Young Justice: Shadow of the Red Hood
by Orator31
Summary: Set after season 2, Nightwing only wishes to be left alone and fly as a solo hero. However, when a new villain known as the Red Hood arrives and seeks to eradicate the team, Dick must join his old friends to hunt down this new threat. But how does this new villain know so much about the team? Could a dark mistake by the team come back to haunt them?
1. Chapter 1

**I am a big fan of Young Justice and have a special love-hate relationship with Red Hood and the Outlaws so I decided to make somewhat of a crossover. I feel like that Cartoon Network made a mistake by canceling such a quitessiental show like Young Justice and they missed an opportunity to expand Jason's story with the new series. This takes place in the Young Justice Universe and takes place after season 2.**

Chapter 1

 **Bludhaven** **Jun. 3rd 11:30pm**

Like many of nights in Bludhaven, the weather was less-than glamorous. Dark clouds swelled over the city, lightning striking different points. The city itself was just as desirable to the certain criminal element, especially to a certain arms dealer known as the Penguin.

Penguin had large weapons caches stored around the city, but his largest cache was located in a rundown wharehouse near the wharf. The building was swarming with goons hired by the Penguin to be his muscle and protection for his shipments that would come and go throughout the city.

Up on the roof, two of said goons, carrying AK-47s, scanned over the city. Unbeknownst to them, a shadowy figure rose over the wall behind them and gently touched down on the roof. Standing up fully, the figure pulled out two escrima sticks and hurled the first one right at the guard on the left, connecting with his head.

After being hit, the guard on the left collapsed in an unconscious heap. His friend quickly turned around but was immediately met with a roundhouse kick to the face by the figure. As the goon looked up to see the assailant, he came face to face with none other than Nightwing, before quickly being knocked out with a blow from the other escrima.

After retrieving his weapons, Nightwing surveyed his surroundings. The building itself was only about three stories high. Besides the doorway, the only other entry point was a large opening that was covered by glass window.

 _A perfect entry point_ , Nightwing thought making his way over to the opening.

As he stood on top of the opening, he noticed the interior of the warehouse. There were around twenty to twenty five thugs, and more cash than in Bludhaven's largest bank. That was to be expected, but Nightwing was shocked to see the Penguin standing in the middle of the area, counting a large stash of cash.

Nightwing took a deep breath before raising his escrima sticks. Finding his nearest target, a rather bulky goon, Nightwing soon launched himself through the opening and land on the goon. Nearly every thug and the Penguin were shocked by Nightwing's sudden appearance.

"What the 'ell is this?" Penguin asked in his cockney accent. "I wasn't expecting a circus in my warehouse."

"Nice to see you Penguin," Nightwing replied. "The fish in Gotham getting so bad, you thought you'd try Bludhaven."

Penguin scowled and waved his hand toward his goons. Nightwing suddenly noticed multiple guards pulled out guns and pointed them at Nightwing. Quickly reaching down into his utlity belt and detonated a smoke pellet, smoke rapidly spreading throughout the room.

Using his quick agility, Nightwing went about dispatching as many of the armed goons as he could. He sweeped the leg of one goon and gave a quick jab to the goons temple. He used his escrima sticks to take out two more thugs. However, as the smoke cleared, Nightwing came face-to-face with the muzzle of a gun.

"Drop your weapons and get down on the floor _hero_ ," the goon with the gun said.

Nightwing reluctantly dropped his escrima sticks and dropped down to his knees. As he tried to look for a way out, he noticed a small ball roll between him and the thug. _Is that what I think it is_ , he thought before the muzzle of the gun was lowered closer to his face.

The goon laughed and said, "You don't seem so tough. Any last words?"

"Yeah, you may want close your eyes," Nightwing replied before closing his eyes and covering his ears with his hands. The goon looked surprised, right before the ball below them exploded, unleashing a large array of blinding light and concussive sound.

The goon was flung backwards in pain. Though, he tried to protect himself, Nightwing also found himself affected by the flash bang. His body slipped to the ground as he tried to regain his composure.

As he looked through his blurry vision, he noticed three figures in the room, now taking down as many goons as they could. _It couldn't be_ , Nightwing thought, _I thought I made it clear that I wanted to be left alone_.

After each taking down an individual thug, the three figures regrouped right in front of Nightwing. Each figure, two male and one female, turned around to face the stunned hero. With a light showing in, it revealed that the figures were none other than his former teammates: Aqualad, Tigress, and Robin.

Aqualad knelt down and extended a hand to Nightwing. "It looks like we arrived to your aide, just in time old friend," he said.

"I asked that you guys give me some time alone, is that too hard to ask for?," Nightwing asked, begrudgingly taking the hand. "I had everything under control before you arrived."

"Yeah, clearly you did," Tigress added. "That's why you were on your knees with a gun pointed in your face."

Nightwing scowled at her, but was interrupted by an obnoxious voice. "I hate to break up the family reunion," Penguin said as he was surrounded by his men with guns. "But you freaks are outnumbered, so why don't you scurry off and I'll think 'bout letting you live."

"Ironic, a man who associates himself with a flightless bird is calling us 'freaks'," Robin said. "And also did you not notice we've already taken out a lot of your goons, _mate_."

Penguin was becoming furious, but Nightwing paid no mind to him. "Look guys I have this handled, why don't you guys head back to the Tower and I'll see you up there for the annual Christmas party, okay?"

"Actually we're here for you old friend," Aqualad said. "What?" Nightwing asked. The other heroes were reluctant to answer him. The Penguin was the least of Nightwing's worries now as he turned his back to the criminal.

"What do you mean you're here for me?" Nightwing asked again, becoming a little irratated.

"Oy, why don't you find your own place to have your secret conversations, and not use my warehouse," Penguin said, having his men raise his guns at the teens. "Now clear out, or my men will fill ya full of lead."

"How about we deal with blubber-mouth over there," Tigress said. "Then we can fill you in on what's going on."

With that being said, Nightwing quickly reached down to his utility belt and pulled out two more smoke pellets. Detonating them, smoke rapidly spread throughout the room. Penguin's men fired, but the heroes had quickly moved out of the way.

The goons all looked to Penguin. "Well don't just stand there," he said, "spread out and find them."

The goons spread out, but the smoke was too thick. Suddenly, one guard on the outskirts was dragged into the smoke and disappeared. The other goons fired off a couple rounds in that direction, but there was only ricochets. Two other thugs, who were furthest away from the commotion were then immediately pulled down in the smoke, leaving only two other goons.

Last remaining thugs decided to stand back-to-back in order to better their odds. All around them, they noticed shadows rising out of the smoke. Spooked, they began unloading rounds off in every direction, nearly hitting the Penguin.

"Oy you dolts, watch where you're shooting," he said.

Seeing one more shadow, the goons tried to unleash another series of rounds. But nothing came out of the weapons. Trying quickly to reload, neither thugs noticed Aqualad falling down from the ceiling and landing right on top of them.

As the smoke finally cleared, Penguin was standing all alone as his group of thugs lay unconscious on the ground. Aqualad, Tigress, and Robin stood unscathed in front of him. There was a tapping on Penguin's shoulder, and as he turned around he saw Nightwing bring down his escrima stick on his skull and the world went dark.

The Bludhaven Police had arrived shortly after Nightwing notified them. Several officers went to work, either booking thugs or carrying weapons or cash out of the warehouse. Aqualad personally led a handcuffed, and grumbling, Penguin towards one of the Police vans.

While Aqualad was being thanked by Bludhaven's commissioner, Nightwing, Tigress, and Robin stood on top of the roof of the warehouse. "So what is so important that you need my help?" Nightwing asked.

"There is a growing disturbance in Gotham and we need your help to stop it," Tigress said. She added sarcastically, "So we were wondering if you could take time from your oh so busy schedule to help us."

Nighwing was beginning to become seriously irritated with her attitude, but thankfully Robin stepped in. "Please Dick," he said, "we're stretched thin with most of the main League still searching for how far the Light's plans really went."

"There is also another thing," Aqualad said making his way on the roof. "Fill him in Robin."

"What is it Tim?" Nightwing asked.

"We don't know what this new threat wants exactly yet," Robin said. "But we are sure of one thing: their targeting the team. More specifically their targeting us Dick."

As Dick was unsure of how to take this news, in the distance a mysterious figure stood on the rooftop of a building. Dressed in a leather jacket and covered in a red mask, the figure watched the exchange from the heroes with binoculars.

"Good," the figure said. "The pieces are finally coming into place."


	2. Chapter 2

**Just to let you I'm probably going to be interchanging characters with their superhero names and then their civilian names. So just encase you don't remember or this is the first time you're reading this story then let me g through:**

 **Nighwing-Dick Grayson**

 **Tigress- Artemis Crock**

 **Aqualad- Kaldur'ahm (I just realized I misspelled his name in the first chapter)**

 **Robin- Tim Drake**

 **Miss Martian- M'gann**

 **Wonder Girl- Cassie Sandsmark**

 **Once again I neither own Young Justice nor Red Hood and the Outlaws. I forgot to add, if I owned Red Hood and the Outlaws there would be several overhauls to the story.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Gotham City Jun 4** **th** **12:31 A.M.**

Gotham City was a modern day Sodom, an almost pure personification of evil. Though the city was not without hope, with the likes of Comissioner Gordon and even the Batman, it seemed that no matter how much crime they snuffed out, more was likely to rise. Even without the more theatrical villains such as Two-Face, Scarecrow, and even the Joker, evil was still there in the forms of crime families, none more prominent than the Falconi family, led by the merciless Carmine Falconi.

This particular night, Carmine stood on his platform at the wharf, surrounded by his personal guard, and was inspecting his men moving their most recent shipment of drugs that had arrived. If what he was told was true, the total amount of drugs brought in would've totaled $500 million dollars. Suddenly, Carmine felt a presence behind him and turned around to see a figure standing near the shadows.

The figured wore black jeans and dark brown leather jacket. Along with hood underneath his leather jacket, his faced was covered completely by a red helmet. Wrapped around his waist was a utility belt. However, unlike Batman, there were two added notches for two hand guns.

"Mr. Falconi, we need to talk," the figure said, with a male voice.

"You must be this Red Hood punk that's been causing headaches for everybody from Bane to Two-Face," Falconi said. "I was hoping you'd be a little buffer, but to what do I owe the pleasure my young friend."

The Red Hood stepped forward, causing the guards to tense up slightly, though Victor told them to lower their guard. "I'm here to tell you that you now work for my employer," the Red Hood said. "All your assets, influence and manpower belong to us now."

Carmine couldn't control his laughter as he burst out into a fit, nearly toppling over. After a few minutes, Carmine stood and straight and said, "Oh, I haven't laughed like that since I was a schoolboy. Screw off kid, before I decide to teach you to show your elders respect."

To add force to his words, his guards each pulled out their own hand gun and pointed it towards the Red Hood. However, Red Hood barely even flinched at this new threat. While Carmine somewhat respected this kid's confidence, he wasn't moved enough to not order his men to open fire as he turned around. After hearing rounds go off, Carmine decided to turn back around to see his men's handiwork.

However, upon coming around he was shocked at what he saw. His men lay strewn out on the ground, each with bullet hole placed in their chest. Standing where he was, but with his guns in his hands, Red Hood twirled them around in his hands like an old western and holstered them.

"So how about you give me that lesson in respecting my elders?" Red Hood asked in amusement.

 **Watchtower, Jun 4** **th** **2:14 A.M.**

Miss Martian, aka M'gann, stared at the monitors in front of her, shifting her eyes back and forth between them. Usually this was Batgirl's, aka Barbra Gordon, job, but thanks to M'gann's immense telepathic power she had been chosen to take over the position. With her powers she could maintain multiple links of communication with several groups, even from the distance of space.

Also the incident in Gotham didn't hurt her chances of being put on what was essentially desk duty, though important it was.

"M'gann, are you alright?" she heard the voice of her uncle J'onn J'onnz (the Martian Manhunter) behind her, breaking her from her thoughts. "You seem a little lost at the moment."

"I'm fine uncle J'onn, I guess I'm just a little tired with all the missions I've been looking over," she replied, trying to get her mind back on monitoring the screens. "If you over exert yourself, even with you're telepathic power, it can hinder the operation," he said.

M'gann was about to reply when she heard the Zeta Tube warming up. As she heard the roll call of Aqualad, Tigress, and Robin, she was beginning to wonder what had taken them so long on their mission. Suddenly she heard a name, she thought she would never hear again: _Nightwing_.

Suddenly she looked toward the zeta tube, and saw that Nightwing was indeed with the others. Immediately she flew from the monitors and tackled Nightwing in a tight hug. Luckily for her, J'onn quickly took her position to maintain a telepathic link with the missions.

"Dick, I can't believe you're here," M'gann nearly cried as she buried her head in chest. "Easy M'gann, you're getting my suit wet," Nightwing responded, earning himself a punch from M'gann.

"Sorry we're late, but it took a little longer to recruit ol' ruffled feathers," Tigress said. Nightwing scowled at her comment, but that did little to faze her. "Got himself nearly killed by the Penguin of all people."

Looking intently at the at Tigress, Nightwing never noticed M'gann coming up from behind and giving him one of the tightest hugs he had ever been given. Nightwing tried to stifle a laugh, "it's good to see you to M'gann."

"Well since we brought him back, I'm going to grab a bite to eat before turning in," Artemis said, before sarcastically adding, "Glad to have you back boy wonder."

"Where is everybody?" Dick asked, trying to ignore her comment. "I know it's early in the morning, but it seems pretty dead here."

"Since we moved to the Watchtower the team has taken more missions since most of the League is busy dealing with the Light," Aqualad replied. "Alpha squad-Batgirl, Beast Boy, and Static- are currently Rhelsia, offering protection to the newly appointed minister. Beta squad- Bumblebee, Guardian, and Lagoon Boy- are teaming with Leaguers to hunt down remaining splinter cells or Reach. And Gamma- Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, and Imp- _I mean_ , Kid Flash- are currently aiding Adam Strange on Rann."

"Speaking of which, M'gann do you know where Cassie is?" Tim asked, causing M'gann to chuckle. "Yeah Tim, she's in the mess hall, she's been waiting for you to return for a while now," M'gann said.

As Tim went in search of his girlfriend, Nightwing decided he wanted to learn more about this new threat. "So let me learn about this Red Hood," he said. "What sort of special powers does he have?"

"He doesn't have super powers," M'gann said. "What?!" Nightwing, asked, "you mean to tell me that we've taken down the likes of Mogul, and Black Beetle, and we can't seem to take down a guy with no powers."

"You of all people should understand that just because you don't have powers, doesn't mean you are not strong," Aqualad said. "This Red Hood has a knowledge of us, unlike any of the other foes we faced. You should've seen what he did to Connor."

"What happened to Connor?" Nightwing asked, looking to M'gann who was about to looked like she was almost to tears. She said, "Dick, Connor is in a coma."

 **Gotham City**

Red Hood had to give it Carmine, the old man could take a punch. After dispatching the crime boss' guards, Red Hood decided to take Carmine up on that "lesson in manners." This quickly led to Carmine being dragged into a wharf office, tied to a chair and becoming Red Hood's newest punching bag.

"I got to admit Carmine, this lesson is not what I expected," The Red Hood said as he threw another punch with his left, which connected with Carmine's jaw. "I thought I would be sitting at a desk, and you'd be giving me some boring lecture." Right hook to the jaw. "You'd be telling me not sleep and how back in your day kids used to play outside, and not on their phones." Kick jab to the gut. "But this, this is much more fun."

"P-please, I beg you m-m-mercy," Carmine said coughing blood. "I-I'll do whatever you want. Please!"

Red Hood raised his fist, looking as if he was going to set another barrage on Carmine. But just as Carmine winced, Red Hood stopped and said, "So you'll follow our orders, you understand what will happen if you fail us, yes?"

Vincent nodded. "Good, very good," Red Hood said. "But just to make sure my point is coming across, how about that lesson of your's for just a few minutes longer."

Red Hood pulled out his gun and pulled it back, intending on stricking Carmine's temple. However, as Carmine winced in preparation of another beating, he never felt it happen. He opened his eyes to see Red Hood was intent on pistol whipping him, but he was stopped by what had to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen holding his arm back.

The woman was something out of this world. She was young, eighteen years old was Carmine's best guess. She had long silky red hair and her skin was almost as orange as a sunset. She was dressed in a purple mini skirt and crop top that cutoff right around to top of her stomach.

 _I wonder what her parents think of her going out dressed like that_ , Carmine thought. _Holy crap, I must be out of it if that's all I can think._

"Hood, this wasn't the plan," the woman said, turning to Carmine and revealing her eyes, that were entirely green. "We were here to just get him to work for us, not make an example of him. You said you just wanted revenge on the team."

"It doesn't make a difference, Starfire," Red Hood said. "He may not be a part of the team, but he is scum just like the them. He's lucky I don't put a bullet in his head right now." The woman, Starfire, sighed and said, "I understand, but he is still needed for the Mistress' plan."

Red Hoood sighed and unfastened Carmine's bonds. "You just got you're get out of jail free card buddy, or as I call it "The Not Get Your Ass Handed to You" card. But if I hear any trouble I'm afraid I'll have revoke that card."

With that, Red Hood and Starfire left the room, leaving Carmine to try and regain his strength. As the two walked out of the wharf, Red Hood noticed Starfire seemed troubled. He moved close to her and brushed her arm, but she moved away from his touch.

"Are you okay Kori?" He asked.

"I just don't understand what is wrong with you?" Kori replied. "I understand getting physical to get your point across, but that was over the line."

"Kori that man was anything, but innocent," Red Hood said, getting slightly annoyed. "You heard the Mistress when she said that no one was safe."

Starfire looked Red Hood right in the eye, or _hood_ , and asked, "So you treat everyone who tries to help like this?"

"Not everyone," was his reply as he closed the distance between them and raised his hand to caress her cheek. He felt her arms sneak around and almost undo his helmet when he noticed another presence. Turning around he noticed a large muscular man, dressed in military pants and a tank top.

"Ubu," Red hood said as he pulled away from Starfire. "To what do we owe the unexpected pleasure?"

"The Mistress has your next mission," Ubu said. "You two will help me break into ACE Chemicals."

I hope you guys liked this chapter, I really wanted to get it done before Christmas (though it's past midnight by the time I post this). The next chapter will finally have Red Hood come face to face with Nightwing and the team. Stay tuned and if you like the story, please favorite, follow, and/or leave a review.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Watchtower Med Bay**

Connor Kent had been Dick's friend for years. As the genetic clone of Superman, Connor was gifted with all of the man of steel's abilities-minus the flight and laser vision (courtesy of the human half given by Lex Luthor). While working with him was first a difficult task, what with the _**why doesn't Superman acknowledge me**_ and _**I'm angry at the world**_ phases, Connor soon proved himself to be a valuable ally. Both he and Dick even teamed up to take down BOTH Superman AND Batman.

This is what made the fact that Connor was now laying unconscious on the gurney, hooked up to numerous machines, so unbelievable to Dick. If it wasn't for Kaldur and M'gann being there, he honestly would've thought this was some sort of sick, twisted dream.

"H-how long has he been like this?" he asked Kaldur, who along with M'gann, stood behind him.

"At least three days," Kaldur replied, putting a hand on Dick's shoulder. "We had gained information on secret planned meeting between Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and the Riddler. Apparently they had been planning a coordinated assault on nearly all of Gotham's banks. The plan was simple; we break into the meeting and neutralize all threats. However-"

"However, when we arrived, we discovered that they had been tipped off," M'gann continued. "We quickly found ourselves with our backs against the wall, but as usual we held our own. However, just when things looked like they were turning for the better, the Red Hood arrived."

"While we were busy dealing with drones, he separated Connor from us," she said closing her eyes tightly. "Connor should've taken him down easily, but this guy knew what he was doing. It was almost like he could anticipate what Connor was going to do before he did it. And just as we were about reach Connor, Red Hood place some sort of patch on his neck, somehow injecting his blood with kryptonite."

Dick was disturbed by this news; no regular human had ever defeated Connor in a fight. Apparently this Red Hood was more dangerous than he originally thought. But why on earth was targeting to the Team.

"You told us once that you fought this Red Hood alongside Batmany, yes?" Kaldur asked.

"Well, technically that's a yes and a no," Nightwing said, rubbing the back of his head. "Back then the Red Hood was just the Joker trying to masquerade as a hero for a little while. From what you've been telling me, this guy is nothing like the Joker. He's calm and calculated, he knows exactly where and when to strike."

Suddenly, an alarm went off and a bright red light began to flash in the room. A telepathic message entered the heads of all three teens. _Team you are urgently needed in the control room_ , Martian Manhunter said through the link, _hurry at once_.

As Much as they didn't like to leave their friend behind, the teens departed from the room.

 **Watchtower Control Room**

The tree quickly made their way into the control room, rapidly joined by Tigress, Robin and Wonder Girl. Gathering around the Manhunter, they looked at a screen that appeared in front of them. Displayed on screen was a large factory complex, with the words "ACE CHEMICALS" written on the side and front of the buiding. The complex itself was on an island and was connected to the mainland by a bridge, which was now swarming with police.

"That's the ACE Chemicals complex just outside of Gotham," Nightwing said. "What seems to be the problem?"

"At the moment, we are unsure," J'onn said. "We've tried hacking into security feed, but each attempt has failed. The only reason that we know of that something is wrong is due a silent alarm being triggered."

"That's all we have to go on," Dick said, surprised by the lack of information. "This could be nothing but a false alarm."

"What's the matter, Dick, afraid of a fight?" Artemis asked, with a smug look on her face. "Maybe all that time being a solo hero, has made you soft."

Dick's temper was beginning rise. "You know what Artemis," he said turning to face her. "I'm getting real sick of you nagging, how about I show you how soft I've gotten?"

"Enough, you two," Kaldur interrupted them and stood in between them. "We shall visit ACE Chemicals, and if it is only a false alarm, then we resume are search for the Red Hood."

"Alright, fine then," Dick said as he turned away from the others. "And then I'm out of here."

 **Gotham City, ACE Chemical Complex**

James Gordon had seen some strange and horrible things throughout his tenure as Gotham City's Police Commisioner. He thought there was some way he would be able to take down Gotham's crime families perhaps there could've been a chance at peace. But that only led the way for criminals, more ambitious, more dangerous, more… _deranged_.

It was a only by some sheer miracle that Gotham had not been lost to these maniacs. Well not so much a miracle as more of a _Bat_.

But the city's Dark Knight was nowhere to be found, and he could sense his men becoming restless. Sure they had been called to ACE Chemicals before on similar calls like this thanks to the company's somewhat lackluster safety protocols, but this was nothing like that as the entire complex was on shut down mode.

Just when Gordon was about to green light a SWAT incursion from the helicopters, he heard a loud buzzing sound behind him. Turning around, he quickly covered his eyes as a flash of blinding light appeared. When the light ended, Gordon lowered his arm to see the teenage superheroes standing in front of him.

"It's about time somebody got here," Gordon said relieved. "But did you have to nearly blind me?"

"We apologize for our entrance Commissioner," Kaldur said stepping forward and shaking Gordon's hand. "But we are here now. What is the situation?"

Gordon smiled and led the heroes up to the complex. While doing this he began saying, "We were alerted to a silent alarm being triggered fifteen minutes ago. Normally it's just a false alarm and we have to deal with a few panicky employees. But this time, the entire complex is on lockdown, and we haven't been able to contact a single employee inside."

"Still like to think it's just a false alarm Nightwing," Artemis smugly said, earning a scowl from Nightwing.

Before he could respond, a uniformed officer walked up to Gordon, walkie-talkie in hand. He said, "Commissioner, the SWAT helicopters are in position and ready for insertion."

"Commissioner Gordon, with all due respect, sending in police officers, even SWAT, would be a bad idea," Nightwing interrupted. "You and I both know if this isn't an alarm, then your men won't be able to handle whatever is inside."

"Then just what do expect us to do?" Gordon asked.

 _Let us go in first_ , M'gann said now through a telepathic link to Gordon, _with this link, I'll be able to keep you updated on everything that's going on_.

Gordon was a bit shocked at first, but quickly composed himself, as if he was almost comfortable with having a voice in his head. Dick wasn't surprised with the quick transition, having seen Gordon deal with stranger things while fighting alongside Dick and Bruce. He had always admired Gordon's strength and willingness to allow people who had been named vigilante's to assist him.

"Commissioner, the men are awaiting your orders, sir," the uniformed officer said. Gordon seemed to be in deep thought, reluctantly weighing his options. He sighed and looked at the officer. "Tell the men to pull back, we'll let the heroes go in first."

"But sir, these heroes look like kids?"

"Call them back dammit!" Gordon shouted, scaring the uniformed officer enough to have him call the men back. Gordon looked at the heroes and said, "I want to be kept in the loop on whatever is going on in there, understood?"

"Don't worry Commissioner, we will," Nightwing responded.

With that Gordon returned to coordinating his men. This left the team to walk up to the entrance of the large complex. Since complex was located on an island just off the shore of Gotham, there was only one main entrance, a modern day drawbridge that was large enough to fit large eighteen year wheelers coming both in and out of the complex. Now the drawbridge, a reinforced steel door that was the same size as four story wall, was raised up to ensure that nothing got in or out.

"Is there any way that we can hack the systems to open the door," Kaldur asked Dick, who was working with his wrist communicator to try and hack in. However, the firewall itself was nearly impossible to crack. After a few moments, Dick gave up in frustration.

"Robin, have you had any more success?" Dick said turning to Tim who was doing the same thing with his own communicator. However, Tim looked up to him with a disappointing look and said, "No luck, it seems we're going to have to go in the old fashioned way." Cassie seemed to enjoy this plan, quickly coming up to Tim and grabbing his arm. "There's nothing that I love more than doing things the old fashioned way." Without consulting with the others, Cassie quickly took off in the air with Tim in tow.

Artemis and Kaldur gathered around M'gann, but Dick moved closer to the complex. M'gann was a little confused and said, "Ugh, Nightwing, are you coming with us?" Dick turned around with a smirk and said, "Thanks, but I think I'll make my own way up."

Dick then reached into his belt and pulled out his grappler. Pointing it up to the wall, he fired it and zoomed up to the top. M'gann then used her telekinesis to lift Kaldur and Artemis up to the air, while in the air Artemis spoke up, "he's really taking this 'I'm my own hero' thing way too seriously."

Upon reaching the top of the wall, the team regrouped. Now with a clear view, the team could see every inch of the facility. Though it appeared to be on lockdown from the exterior, on the inside the place was bustling. Near every entry point was an armed guard, each wearing a different mask of an animal. Dick pulled out a small pair of binoculars to get a better look at the guards. Upon further inspection, he noticed the every guard bore the insignia of the League of Shadows.

"What do you see?" Kaludr asked.

"Those guys are from the Shadows," Dick replied in mild shock. "How is that possible? I thought the Shadows broke up after Black Beetle killed Ra's."

"Apparently the Shadows are more resilient without their leader than we thought," Kaldur replied. "Even without Ra's, the Shadows could still be more than willing to continue their mission." As they were discussing this, Cassie became frustrated. "Who cares whether they broke up or not," Cassie said. "They're here now, so let's get to kicking some Shadow butt."

"These people may not have any special powers, remember they're no pushovers," M'gann told Cassie, putting a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "I love the enthusiasm, but it doesn't take much to take us down."

Cassie hated to admit, but she knew that M'gann was right. Dick concurred with this and said, "Alright, the Shadows maybe impressive warriors, but chemical engineering isn't exactly their best skill. So that means there should workers here, they might be held up in some section of the complex."

"We also why the Shadows decided to hit ACE Chemicals," Artemis added. "Somebody has to be pulling the strings of this operations."

While this was going on, Tim was busy at work using his scanner to locate heavy thermal readings. Finally he had two areas narrowed down for the Team to inspect. Looking up he said, "Okay, so two areas have large thermal readings, the labs and the parking garage. I think who's ever running this is probably on the labs."

"Alright it's settled, we need to split up," Kaldur said. "Miss Martian, Nightwing, and I will head to the labs. Tigress, Robin, and Wonder Girl take the parking garage and search for any of the employees."

With that the Team split up and dropped down into the compound. M'gann, Kaldur, Dick stealthily strolled up to the entrance of the labs, but stopped after seeing that it was covered by two guards, both carrying katanas. In order to separate them, Dick banged one of his escrima sticks on a wall, sending off a loud ringing sound. Sure enough, one of the guards walked towards them to investigate the sound. When he came around a corner, he was quickly ambushed by the heroes. Using her changling powers, M'gann transformed into a perfect replica of the guard. Returning back to the entrance, M'gann swiftly knocked the other guard unconscious.

Entering the lab, the team saw that the place was huge, filled with numerous amounts of scientific equipment. The place was nearly silent with the exception of an extremely irritated voice shouted out, "Could this be any more boring? I bet I could find this place faster on my phone than this computer could."

Making their way towards the center of the room, they hid behind machines. They peered their heads over the machines to see Red Hood and Ubu overlooking a middle-aged, blonde female scientist busily working on a large computer. By the way that she was shaking, Dick could tell that she wasn't doing this voluntarily.

"It would seem Red Hood is now working with the Shadows," Aqualad whispered. "It would seem that are list of enemies are growing."

Before they could continue, Red Hood let out a howl in frustration, "This is broad is taking too damn long." He raised his gun up to the scientist's temple. "I say we waste her now, before she can tell the Team what we're looking for."

Ubu looked irritated, but relented, saying, "Fine, we have what we need. Just don't make a huge mess."

As Red Hood was about to pull the trigger, Dick knew he needed to take action. He reached into his utility belt and pulled out one of his Wing-Dings ( _ **I saw they were called this on a website, sorry if that's wrong**_ ). Using his pinpoint accuracy, he hurled the Wing-Ding with a high velocity and had it connect with Red Hood's gun, causing Red Hood's hand to swing to the side and fire into the computer. Looking at the direction the projectile went, Red Hood, Ubu, and the scientist saw the team come out from their hiding space.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Justice League's B-squad," Red Hood said in amusement, bringing his wrist up to his face. "And only after fifteen minutes after I set off that alarm, you guys are getting sloppy."

"What?!" Ubu shouted in anger. "You are the reason they are here. This insolence will not be tolerated."

Without looking at Ubu, Red Hood pulled both his guns and pointed them at the team. "We can deal with this later," he told Ubu. "Right now it's time for me to take my vengenance."

 _Vengeance, what is this guy talking about?_ Dick thought, as Kaldur stepped forward. Speaking through M'gann's telepathic link, Kaldur said, _I'll take Ubu, Dick you take Red Hood, and M'gann get the scientists out of here._

Dick and M'gann nodded in agreement. After a short Mexican standoff, the three heroes separated, with Dick and Kaldur going right and left, while M'gann raced down the middle. Just as M'gann was about to reach the scientist, a shadowed figure came from the ceiling and talked her to the ground. After being slammed down, M'gann looked up only to see a red headed young woman, with green eyes, standing over her.

"Wh-who are you?" M'gann groggily asked, rubbing her head. The young woman only smirked and proudly said, "I don't think you will live long enough for it to matter, but if you must then call me Starfire."

Starfire readied her hands towards M'gann, each fist began glowing with bright aura. M'gann froze, _a Tamaranian? How is that possible?_ She thought. Right before Stafire was about to fire, she was knocked off her feet by a water construct from Kaldur. However, this allowed to Ubu to throw a smoke pellet on the ground. When the smoke cleared, the large warrior was no longer there. Slowly, but surely, Starfire made her way on her feet. From the look on her eyes, she wasn't too pleased with being knocked back.

Kaldur made his way to M'gann and helped her to her feet, he checked to see if she was alright. M'gann said, "I'm fine, but you need to help Nightwing, I'll take care of this." Kaldur was a little wary of leaving his teammate alone, but M'gann's expression meant business, so Kaldur sprinted to the other side of the lab. Once the Atlantean was gone, both women readied themselves into fighting stances and launched themselves at each other.

At the other end of the lab, Dick found himself extremely thankful for all the intensive training regimen that Batman had put him under. This allowed him to punch harder, run faster, and thanfully, dodge most bullets quicker. Dodging Red Hood's bullets were no exception; in fact it was almost laughable at how easy the bullets were to dodge. As Dick danced around the projectiles, he produced another Wing-Ding and flung it at Red Hood. The Wing-Ding connected with the gun in Red Hood's, dislodging it from his hand.

"Maybe I heard wrong about you Hood," Dick said in amusement. "I honestly thought it be tougher than this."

Though it looked like he was in pain, Red Hood suddenly began to laugh. "You're still as quick as I remember, old friend," he said, causing Dick to raise an eyebrow and think, do I know this guy? He was broken by his thoughts as Red Hood pointed the gun in his right hand upwards and said, "But it seems you've forgotten to remember where you're surroundings are."

Dick looked up to notice a large laser installation above him, held by ropes. Before he could move out of the way, Red Hood fired a shot which severed the ropes and caused the installation to crash on top of Dick's leg. As he struggled to free himself he felt a shadow fall on him. Looking up he was met with the barrel of Red Hood's gun. Even with the hood on, Dick could somehow feel that whoever was under that mask was smiling. Red Hood said, "Funny, I thought you would be tougher."

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Red Hood received a kick in the hood from Kaldur that sent him back. Kaldur then knelt down near Dick and began moving the machine off his friend. However, a bullet whizzed past Kaldur and connected with the machine, causing him to jump a little. Turning around, he saw Red Hood pointing his gun at him.

"You know, you heroes have a knack for always jumping in right at the last moment," he said as he pointed the gun at Kaldur. "And it's always in someone else's business."

Kaldur stood up and produced one of his water-bearers, causing it to become a sword. Seeing this, Red Hood tossed aside his gun aside across the room. Bending down to his boot, he pulled out a long, nine-inch combat blade. Dick was surprised that Red Hood would throw away such an advantage. _Who is this guy?_ He thought as he began to try move his the machine off his leg.

 **This chapter took longer to write than I thought, so I thought why don't I just split up the chapter into two parts. I hope to have the next part up soon, and thank you guys for all the support I've been getting.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

M'gann was thankful that engineers at ACE Chemicals needed such a large lab to work on their experiments. With such an expansive room, it allowed her to fly with around with almost ease, which was necessary if she was going to win this fight against this warrior, Starfire. Noticing some a wooden desk a few feet away, M'gann used her telepathic powers to hurl the desk at the Tamaranian. Unfortunatly, Starfire barely batted an eye as she raised her left arm and swatted the desk away like it was an annoying fly.

 _This may be a lot tougher than I thought_ , M'gann thought to herself.

"Is that all you have, Martian?" Starfire asked as if the fight were already won. "Pitiful. If that is true, then taking you and your friends down will be, who the earthlings say, a breeze. Then we can continue with our plans."

Starfire's arms and eyes began to glow a bright green. A round aura of energy began forming around each of her hands, each swirling in a circular motion. Throwing her hands towards M'gann, Starfire unleashed two glowing aura spheres at M'gann with intense speed. M'gann rarely had enough time to become intangible before the spheres zoomed right through and crash into the wall behind her, causing two small craters to form behind her.

"Plans? What sort of things could the Shadows be planning?" M'gann asked. "And what business does a Tamaranian have on earth?"

"That is none of your concern, Martian," Starfire replied, her arms glowing up again. "If I were you, I would focus more on trying to stay alive as long as you can."

With Red Hood and Kaldur, the two were in the middle of an intense duel of blades, each dodging and parrying each other's attacks. Kaldur's water-bearer had constructed a relatively short blade, akin to that of a Roman Gladius. This allowed for Kaldur to have quicker movements, which should've given him the advantage. However, even only equipped with a knife, Red Hood was somehow able to hold his own.

"I'm impressed you are holding your own with such a smaller blade," Kaldur had to say just as he ducked under a swipe that was intended for his neck. "I must ask, where did you receive your training?"

"You know I could honestly make a joke about size not mattering, but it just doesn't seem like the right time," Red Hood replied as he parried one of Kaldur's thrusts. "But it's good to see the Atlantean training has proven not to be a complete waste of time for you."

Even though he was normally a talkative person, Dick just couldn't undertstand why these two felt the need to banter back and forth, especially Kaldur. Maybe Kaldur was trying to get a read on him, but if it was Dick doing the fighting, he would've been asking after he knocked that dumb helmet on Red Hood's head. But then again, Dick was still struggling to get the laser installation off his leg. As far as he could tell nothing was broken, but that didn't make the experience any less painful.

Meanwhile with Red Hood and Kaldur, the two had recently separated from battle and gave each other some distance. Kaldur seemed a little affected by Red Hood's comment. He asked, "What do you mean 'waste of time'."

If a helmet could smirk, Red Hood would be doing exactly that. "Well it's obvious that it helped you become Kaldur's lackey, no doubt about that," Red Hood said. "But it must all that training had to hurt you with the ladies, maybe a certain someone who decided you weren't worth it and moved on after you left."

Kaldur was about to strike, but stopped himself. "How do you know of this?" Red Hood didn't answer, but delivered a swift kick to Kaldur's chest. The blow sent Kaldur flying back and landed on his back. As he tried to get up, he was met by Red Hood's other foot that pushed and held Kaldur down on the ground.

"I know more about you then you'll ever know," Red Hood said as he raised his knife up. "But unfortunately you won't be here long enough to know just how much I know."

However, before the death blow was struck, Red Hood was struck in the face by Dick's foot. The sudden attack, sent Red Hood flying back, causing the knife to fly backwards. Dick immediately grabbed his leg, still in pain from having a laser installation on him. Kaldur slowly got up to and helped pull Dick up. Tough there was some residual pain, Dick was able to place some weight on it. _Are you able to fight?_ Kaldur asked through M'gann's telepathy link. Though the stiffness was still there, Dick nodded. They both looked over to Red hood who was regaining his own composure, adjusting his helmet as he picked up himself off the floor. As he looked at them, Dick didn't need to see his face to see that he was pissed.

"Why is that every time I try to kill someone, you guys have to jump in at the last minute," Red Hood seethed. "I mean is just a deal that you guys have that you WILL ONLY save each other at the last minute?"

Ignoring his question, Red Hood only had a brief moment before Dick and Kaldur charged at him, intent on taking the crook down.

M'gann was surviving her fight and that was as about as good as it got. Due to her intangibility, none of Stafire's blasts made their mark, only zoomed right through her. However, that was the only good thing that as happening to her for this fight, as she was never able to have a moments rest as there was a constant bombardment of energy spheres. M'gann was able to mount a defense, using her telekinesis to launch numerous objects. However, this did little more than to annoy Starfire as she smacked each item away, including a large desk, away with her hands like she it was nothing.

"Clearly neither of us has the advantage," M'gann said as moved to put distance between Starfire and herself. "Why don't you just give up before you tire yourself out."

"I don't think so as Martian," Starfire replied. Noticing something behind M'gann, she readied her arms and launched two more engery spheres towards M'gann.

Having just barely any time, M'gann became intangible again just as the spheres reached her. She could feel the heat radiating off them as whizzed by her. "Don't you understand that those can't hit me!" M'gann shouted in defiance. At hearing this, Starfire only smirked.

"If you think I was aiming for you Martian, you are sadly mistaken."

M'gann whirled herself around to see the spheres zooming past her and hitting a large chemical vat. She only had a split second to see that written on the side of the vat were the words: _Highly Volatile_. Immediately the reaction occurred and caused a large explosion. Thanks to being intangible, M'gann was saved from the force of the blast. But that didn't protect her from the fire began to set itself ablaze in the lab. Feeling herself become weakened, she never noticed that Starfire had disappeared as M'gann slipped into blackness.

With their combined might, Kaldur and Dick were finally able to put Red Hood on the defensive. With each working simultaneously using jabs and kicks, the two never allowed Red Hood to gain his balance. Still, even with the constant bombardment of their assault, the two were never able to truly land a hit on the criminal. Whenever, it seemed like there was an opening, Red Hood seemed to be able to block as soon as they tried to strike.

Suddenly the explosion from Starfire's and M'gann's fight caught up to them and the three were tossed around thanks to the concussion from the blast. As Kaldur and Dick tried to regain their footing, Red Hood was able to find his knife. He picked it up and made a dash towards Kaldur. Before Kaldur could even blink, Red Hood stepped him right in the stomach, to both Dick and Kaldur's shock.

As Red Hood jumped back, Kaldur moaned in agony. He dropped to his knees before hitting the ground face first. As much as Dick wanted to break every bone in Red Hood's body, he needed to help stop the bleeding before it got out of hand. So as Dick went to aide Kaldur, Red Hood found himself laughing manically.

"Well now that's two down," he said as he reached into his utility belt. "I am the Team's reckoning Nighwing. Make peace with your loved ones…well those who you haven't failed."

Pulling out a smoke pellet, Red Hood threw it on the ground and vanished as the smoke cleared. Immediately the flames from the explosion began to swarm around Dick and Kaldur. As he tried to cover the bleeding, Dick couldn't help but begin to struggle breathing as the smoke began to choke him. As he felt like he was going to pass out, he saw pellet whiz past him and land near the flames. The last thing he saw before black was the pellet bursting opening and the flames freezing.

 **Remote location of the Gotham Underground**

Red Hood trudged through foul smelling sewer to make it to the lair of the League of Shadows. It was an open cove that had numerous passageways, easy access for the Shadows so they could reach the surface.

As Red Hood made his way to the center of the cove, he was met by a fist to the face that knocked him to the ground. He looked up to see the steaming face of Ubu, who at the moment looked like he was willing to rip off Red Hood's arms.

"You miserable, little rodent I will make you pay for your insolence," Ubu seethed as he grabbed Red Hood by the collar and hefted him up. "You put the entire mission in jeopardy for your stupid vendetta. The Master would not tolerate this insolence."

"Well the Master ain't here no more," Red Hood said smugly. "Why I work with the Shadows, I report to the Mistress and to her alone. And she promised me revenge."

Ubu pulled his arm back, ready to attack Red Hood again. However, his fist was caught by a feminine palm, stopping him dead in his track. He turned to see a rather pissed off looking Starfire, who began to squeeze Ubu's hand until the crushing force until he dropped Red Hood. Once Red Hood was dropped Starfire relinquished Ubu's hand.

"You best let your boyfriend fight his own battles, alien," Ubu said holding his hand in agnoy. "A weakling like him needs to learn his place."

"Careful with your words Ubu," another feminine voice called out. "For one day you may live to regret them."

All three looked up to see a young woman, somewhere in her mid thirties, standing on a small platform. She was a beautiful sight, with piercing blue eyes and long brown hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. She was dressed in a warrior get up with a long sword attached to her back and a ceremonial knife tied to her waist. She was followed by a personal guard of masked warriors, each carrying their own swords.

Immediately Ubu knelt down, despite getting down in the sludge. "Mistress," he said. "I still don't understand why you teamed us with this vagabond and his alien girlfriend."

"Why it is true, Red Hood sometimes goes against the norm," the Mistress said as she palmed the vial of chemicals they stole from ACE Chemicals. "But he has still been able to accomplish his goal and ours, especially in retrieving this vial of Lazarus Particles."

She looked at Red Hood and continued, "But right now Red Hood we need you're upmost attention. If we're going to find the source of these particles, we'll need every one to be focused. Is that understood."

Reluctantly Red Hood bowed and said, "Yes Mistress Talia."

 **Sorry it took me so long to upload this story, I feel like this semester at college is going to be a very difficult one. But I will continue to write whenever possible, though I will still be trying to work on my Feature Script. As if you have something nice or constructive to say please leave a comment, and thanks to all the people who follow and favorite my story.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **Watchtower**

As M'gann began to regain conciouness, she found herself extremely weak. Every inch of her ached in immense pain, from her toes to her forehead. She even found that opening her eyes was Herculean task that forced her to use a great deal of effort. After a few minutes, she was able to open her eyes and was met by a blinding light. When the light cleared she noticed that she was the med bay on the watchtower. As she tried to lift herself up, she felt a hand gently pushing her back down. She looked over to see Artemis smiling warmly at her.

"Easy there sweetie you need your rest," Artemis said as she helped M'gann back down on the gurney. "You're still pretty weak from the flames."

"What happened?" M'gann asked weakly.

"Well while you guys were trying to deal with Red Hood and the others, Tim, Cassie, and I found the workers in the parking garage," Artemis replied. "We took out the guards and were able to get the civilians to GCPD."

"That's good, I'm glad that no one was hurt," M'gann mumbled as she felt herself nodding off again.

However, she was awoken again by the sound of other people entering her room. She opened her eyes to see Tim, Cassie, and Dick, who was slightly hobbling on one leg, enter. Cassie saw that M'gann was slightly awake and, with enthusiasm, said, "Oh my gosh M'gann you're awake. It's good to see you back to normal… well sort of."

"Thanks Cassie, I'm glad to see that you guys are okay as well," M'gann hoarsely said, then she noticed Dick avoiding putting weight on his right leg. "Dick what happened to you?"

"I got a laser installation dropped on my ankle by Red Hood," Dick replied absentmindedly rubbing his ankle as he found a chair next to her bed. "Thanks to the vigorous training from Batman, the doctors said I should be fine in a day."

"I guess being solo hasn't paid off for you," Artemis mumbled under her breath.

Dick had just about had enough of Artemis comments. "Ok, 'miss-bust-my-chops', anytime you want to go, I'm ready for a fight."

"Oh really," Artemis laughed. "I don't know if you'd after spending a year of only busting arms dealers, I doubt you could keep up."

"Will you two stop arguing like children?" Tim barked. "The last thing we need is another member of the team out of commission."

"Another member?" M'gann asked as she seemed to gain a little bit of strength. "What are you guys talking about?"

Every other person in the room became tense. M'gann looked around, but the others seemed intent on not making eye contact with her. It was then that she noticed that Kaldur was not among them. For a moment, she hoped that he was just in some other part of the tower, maybe talking with her Uncle J'onn. But there was a nagging sensation that this wasn't the case.

"Guys, where is Kaldur?" she asked with concern.

There silence. Finally Dick decided to speak up, "He's in the next room in surgery. At the moment, the doctor's are trying to stop the bleeding."

"H-h-he was stabbed?" M'gann said, finding herself on the verge of tears. First Connor and know Kaldur, her friends were being hunted down before her. She felt herself becoming weak.

"M'gann, you need to breathe," Artemis said, gently wrapping her hand around her friend's arm. "He's lost a lot of blood, but the doctor's are optimistic that he'll pull through. Right now you need to just focus on getting your strength back."

It was a difficult thing to ask, but somehow M'gann found herself drifiting off to sleep. As soon as she was out, the others left her room. They made their way back to the main control room of the Watchtower. Along the way they made found the doctor's who had just finished operating on Kaldur. Though it would take a good deal of time, the doctors assured them that Kaldur would make a full recovery.

Since that was out of the way, the team needed to focus on the larger problem: Red Hood.

"So tell us about the fight Dick?" Tim asked.

"It was like nothing I'd ever seen before," Dick replied still somewhat. "Even when it was 2-on-1, Kaldur and I could barely land a hit on him. It was like he could see are moves before we even thought of them."

"I can't believe that Kaldur went down like that," Cassie said somewhat frustrated. "Why didn't he use any of his Atlantean sorcery? He probably could've taken Red Hood down easy."

"True, but if he did, then he could've set off the explosion in the lab," Artemis answered, putting a hand on Cassie's shoulder in attempt to calm her down. "Plus you know Kaldur, he wouldn't have used it because of that code of honor of his."

"Speaking of explosions we need to talk about this new threat, Starfire," Tim said. "According to M'gann she's an alien known as a Tamaranean."

"Did you say a Tamaranean?" a voice asked from behind the group. They all looked to see J'onn standing near the monitors. He seemed somewhat troubled as he said, "Forgive me for interrupting on your conversation, but did you in fact say a Tamaranean?"

"Yeah, you know something about them J'onn?" Dick asked.

"Yes, the League has encountered them members of that race before," J'onn said as moved closer to the group. "The race is quite similar to the Kryptonians, with the enhanced strength and an ability to absorb ultraviolet radiation and convert it to pure energy, through both their arms and eyes. This radiation absorption also grants them the ability to fly."

"Well that's just great, not only do we have to deal with the maniac in the red hood, now we have to deal with the female equivalent of Superman," Artemis said in frustration. "How did the Shadows end up allying themselves with her?"

"Hard to say, but I'm very surprised to see a Tameranean here at all," J'onn said, stroking his chin. "Most Tamaraneans' that League met were either mercenaries or refugees, on the run from the warlord that runs their home world of Tamaran, who sold most of her race to slavery."

"That's horrible, how could someone sell their own race into slavery," Cassie said.

"I know it's sad, but we can't let are guard down with her," Tim said as he pulled Cassie close to him. "No matter how she got here, she is working with the Shadows now."

"That's another thing, how are the Shadows here?" Dick said. "I thought after Ra's was skilled by Black Beetle, the Shadows were in complete disarray."

"Why the loss of the Ra's al Ghul did cause the Shadows to suffer for a little, they did not break," J'onn answered. "In fact it only took months for the organization to come back to return to operationg, before actually flourishing under mysterious new leadership."

"So what do we do?" Cassie asked. "We have no idea of what their planning or where there going to strike next. We're at a loss here."

"For now, we wait," Dick said. "When they strike, we'll be there."

 _ **Sorry if this chapter seems short and/or boring. I really am still trying to figure out what direction I want this story to go in, not to mention that I wrote this in one day. I know these are excuses (I'm really good at making those), but I want to keep you guys entertained while also trying to keep my grades up. Thank you again for all the people who have favorited or followed my story, and a special thank you to everyone who reviewed my story.**_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Gotham Port

Carmine Falcone had always been the toughest of the tough. Even when he was just a young boy, he remembered having to fight every day to make sure that no one messed with him. Even by the time he was working in his family's crime business, he had proven that he was a dog that's bite was definitely worse than the bark.

But that made the fact that he was now a dog, a lap dog no less, for some mysterious new player who just happened to employ a bunch of psychopaths. His men had been working day and night in his shipping company, moving mysterious cargo that he dare not look inside. He was used to having his shipping company move less-than-legal items, but usually the worst case scenario was he would have Gotham PD on his back trying to bust him. Now he had to deal with ninjas, _yes actual freakin' ninjas_ , watching over and giving his men orders.

Trying his best to avoid crossing their bad side, Falone spent most of his nights in his office. He was looking at manifests of recent shipments and trying to calculate his next profit. However, with this mysterious junk the freaks were bringing in every night, counting numbers proved to be extremely difficult. Carmine was nearing the end of his calculations when he heard the door handle turn. As the door opened, Carmine slowly reached under his desk to palm the .38 caliber defensively as he expected that punk Red Hood to show up again.

"Uncle Carmine, are you in here?" the voice of a man said. "I have to talk to you right now."

Carmine felt a wave of relief as he saw that it was not that masked freak, but was met by large, dark haired man. The man was dressed in a brown suit and his hair was glossed over with some cheap grease. Though Carmine smiled at the man, he was met by a stern expression.

"Johnny, you nearly gave me a heart attack," Carmine said. "To what do I owe a visit from my favorite nephew?"

Johnny walked up to the desk and slammed his meaty palms on it with a loud _BANG!_ He leaned in close to his uncle.

"Can you tell me why you have let us become lackeys to a bunch of punks!" Johnny screamed. "We used to be the most feared family in Gotham and now we've become a laughing stock."

Carmine said nothing, but slowly stood up from his chair. Johnny watched his uncle intently, but noticed to late that Carmine's hand was racing towards him. Even in his old age, Carmine still had enough force to slap his nephew across the face and send him flying back to the ground.

Johnny slowly picked himself up, an intense pain in his cheek. As he rubbed his cheek, he noticed that his uncle was now standing over him. If looks could kill, Johnny was sure he would already be a rotting corpse.

"Listen to me boy, we live in a strange and crazy world now," Carmine said in a somber tone. "Things used to be easier; you run gambling, drugs, and women, bribe some cops to look the other way, and groom your kids to be your successor. Now we have aliens with laser eyes, psychotic clowns who are anything but funny, and now secret society of ninjas. We ARE now the low level crooks for bigger fish."

Carmine then left his nephew in shock as he left the room. Regaining composure, Johnny hastily got up from the floor and followed him out of the office. He quickly found his uncle overlooking the operations.

"I know what the people say about this, this is never what I wanted," Carmine said as he stared at the workers. "But I know when I'm beat, and this is all I can do to ensure that we survive in this world."

Johnny was surprised to hear this. He was about to say something, when could've sworn he felt a prescene watching them. He scanned around the area, but saw nothing.

"Are you even listening to me Johnny," Carmine said, jogging Johnny out of his train of thought.

"Y-yes uncle Carmine," Johnny said. "I apologize for my behavior; I'll do better to ensure that our family continues."

Carmine smiles and grasps his nephew's shoulders. While they were not the top dogs that they used to be, he was sure that they could endure this. However, the moment ended as both men heard a soft laughter. Both Carmine and Johnny frantically looked around to find the source of the laughter.

"Hood, is that you?!" Carmine shouted.

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Falcone," a male voice said. "But I must say that touching moment almost made me forget that you guys are whore-mongering filth."

Both men looked up to the roof of the office to see a young man standing there. The man, or in this case a boy, looked like another one of those masked sidekicks. His hair was long and unruly, he suit was torn and dirty, and Carmine must have been seeing things, because the boy's left arm looked like it was metal.

"Who the hell are you?" Johnny said.

"My name isn't really important, pal," the boy said as he raised his metal arm and pointed it at Carmine and Johnny. "But if you really want to know you can call me Arsenal."

Suddenly the boy's arm transformed from an arm into a cannon. Carmine didn't need anyone to tell him that he should get out of the way. That instinct was right as the cannon charged and fired a large red blast. Johnny was not as quick as his uncle and just barely managed to get out of the way before the blast hit him. The beam hit the ground and caused a pretty good explosion.

As the smoke cleared, Carmine looked back to the roof to see that Arsenal was no longer on there.

"Uncle Carmine, are you alright?" Johnny called out.

"Yeah, I'm fine Johnny," Carmine called back. "Call Hood, I feel that we may have not seen the last of that masked freak."

 **I'm so sorry about not updating this story in a while. I've been so busy with school work and being an RA that this hasn't really been a priority. However, I thank you all for continuing to follow and favorite this story, I don't only do this for my enjoyment, but for your's as well. As always please favorite and follow the story if you like and I hope to keep this story going. Thank you guys for your support, it has been a very big boost to me.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Watchtower**

Silence… silence was what Dick really needed right now. There was a small part of him that had hoped that being back with the Team would've been fun and that they could've reminisced as they stopped the bad guys. But between the constant bickering between him and Artemis, loosing Connor and Kaldur (and nearly M'gann) to some crazy gun-toting maniac with a vendetta, and to top it all of the Shadows were running all over Gotham doing God knows what. It was so much simpler when he was just busting arms dealers and bank robbers in Bludhaven.

Dick needed to clear his head, unfortunately the only place that he could get away from all the noise was the last place he wanted to be… the hall of heroes. He was surrounded by the holograms of all the people that he had failed: Ted Kord, Tula… _Wally_. Dick found himself standing in front of one specific memorial, a young man, scrawny dark haired boy. The boy was dressed in a red suit, long black and yellow cape, and a mask. The large 'R' on the left side of his chest was impossible to miss.

"Jason," Dick said in isolation. The former Robin was Dick's first and greatest failure. Dick never told anyone this, but no matter how much he had accomplished as Robin or Nightwing, there would always be a little whisper in his head reminding him of that fact.

"Dick, where are you at man?" Tim said as he walked into the hall, but stopped when he saw what his friend and mentor was looking at. He came in closer to his friend and said, "You know you never really told me what happened to him?"

"Because there isn't anything to say," Dick said without missing a beat. "Jason died in the line of duty. It's a possibility that can happen to all of us in our line of work. End of discussion."

From the tone of Dick's voice, Tim knew that he had touched a nerve. Thankfully he was saved by a telepathic link from M'gann. _Dick, Tim, we need you guys to make it to the control room_.

 _What's the problem, M'gann,_ Tim thought.

 _You honestly wouldn't believe me if I told you_ , she thought back, _just hurry up here,_ _we've got a message from an old friend_.

Both young heroes gave each other a confused look. Nevertheless, they quickly made their way to the control room. They were met M'gann, Artemis and Cassie who were standing around a control panel. M'gann was sitting in a chair, partially cause she was working with the panel, but mostly due to the fact that she was still recovering from the ACE Chemicals fight. Normally she would be able recover really fast, but perhaps the chemicals from ACE were hindering her quick recovery time.

She turned around to see both Dick and Tim. She smiled, but they could both notice that she was struggling even with that simple motion.

"So who what's ups?" Tim asked.

"Turns out we have a lead on the Shadow's base of operations," Artemis said. "An old friend gathered some intel on a group of Shadows guarding a shipping yard in Gotham."

"That's fantastic!" Tim said. "And I bet you where ever the Shadow's are that's where we'll find Red Hood."

"Yeah and then we can make him pay for hurting our friends," Cassie shouted as she playfully punched Tim's shoulder. However, a playful punch from his Amazonian girlfriend usually was a lot more powerful than a light tap and Tim had to gently rubbed his shoulder.

But Dick noticed a somewhat irritated look on Artemis' face. She almost looked as if she wasn't pleased about getting this new information. Something had to be off, and when Artemis looked at him, he didn't need telepathy to understand what she was trying to say.

"O-oh, no," Dick said in annoyance. "You can't be serious. Why of all people did it have to be him?"

"Have to be who?" Cassie curiously asked.

Artemis sighed. "The message came from Aresnal."

 **Gotham Sewer**

Ubu and Red Hood circled around each other, both surrounded by a circle of Shadow ninjas. Each of the ninjas was chanting for them to fight. Red Hood wondered if they were placing bets… and maybe he could be a part of that action. That thought ended as a punch from Ubu landed on the right side of his face, knocking Red Hood back into the crowd. The ninja subordinates picked him up and quickly threw in back in the ring.

"Pay attention Hood, otherwise this will be too easy," Ubu mocked. "You don't have you're little xeno-girlfriend to help you."

"You seemed to be confused Ubu," Red Hood laughed. "She was the one who was stopping me from smashing your big, bald head into the ground."

Ubu became agitated and charged towards Red Hood with a violent speed. Red Hood tried to dodge and bloc the oncoming attacks, but Ubu always seemed to be on step ahead of him. Suddenly Ubu jammed his fist into Red Hood's gut, causing him to topple over. Without getting any time to catch his breath, Red Hood's chin was met by Ubu's knee and sending Red Hood crashing to the ground.

"You insolent little pest, you are nothing but an untrained welp," Ubu said as he stood over Red Hood. "Your own agenda does nothing but hinder our plans to make this city pay."

There was a small silence in the room, some of the Shadow ninjas glanced at each other in anticipation. Slowly a low chuckle was heard from Red Hood, doing nothing but infuriating Ubu even more than possible.

"Why you little-" Ubu was unable to finish as he was quickly met by Red Hood's boot in very sensitive area. Ubu let out a loud cry in pain as he fell to his knees.

As the large warrior tried to regain his composure, Red Hoo quickly got back up to his feet with renewed energy. Not wanting to give Ubu a chance to get back up, Red Hood quickly stomped his foot on Ubu's face, sending the giant to the ground. Hood quickly got on top of him and began an intense assault on Ubu's face. The large warrior had never felt such fury in one man as Red Hood put in each of his punches. As he felt blood running from his nose, and most assuredly some broken bones, he could barely make out Hood cocking back for another throw.

"Enough!"

Red Hood's fist stopped right before it connected with Ubu's face. Getting off the oath, Red Hood noticed the group of ninjas had dispersed and Talia and Kori now stood there. While Talia's expression was stoic and aloof, Kori's was a little more concerned.

"Red Hood I'm sure whatever Ubu did to cause you beat him to a pulp was well deserved," Talia said. "But we still need him, so be a dear and get off him."

Red Hood complied and immediately four ninjas came over and dragged Ubu off. Talia followed her second-in-command, leaving the room empty except Hood and Kori. However, Hood could sense a tension through the silence, getting worse everytime that he looked Kori.

"He had it coming," Hood said. "The big idiot just kept running his mouth about how my vengeance was insignificant and-"

"And you had to prove him wrong by beating him to a pulp," Kori responded.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hood asked.

"What are we doing?" Kori asked back. "I promised you that we would bring the Team to justice, but I don't believe these people share the our objective."

"It doesn't matter, they're only a means to an end," Hood said. "Once we make the team pay, we can to do whatever we want."

To add emphasis to what he said, Red Hood closed the difference between him and Kori. She hesitated, but leaned in as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned in on his chest and breathed in his scent.

"When this is over, how about the first thing we do is head back to that cavern underneath the waterfall," Hood said in a low whisper slowly. "Just you, me, the sounds of the water and… _other things_."

Red Hood didn't have to look at Kori's face to know she was blushing as they both thought about their little hiding spot.

"I always said you two would make quite the couple."

The two young lovers broke their embrace to see Talia standing there with a smirk.

"It would seem that our friend Carmine is need of our help," Talia said. "I want you two to take a group of warriors and help him."

"And why on earth would I help that old crackpot?" Red Hood asked.

"Because apparently the Team has found out about our operation," Talia said. "It stands to reason that they will probably make a move on it very soon."

Kori didn't have to look at Red Hood to know that a fire was lit inside him. "Good" was all he said.

Kori felt a pain in her chest. She was struggling to keep the man she loved from losing himself, but it seemed with each day his hatred grew more. She only hoped that when this was over they could have their old life back.


	8. Chapter 8

**I forgot to write something at the end of the Chapter 7. I don't know how I was able to do it, but I was able to write Chapter 7 in only one day. I am in awe at just how many of you have enjoyed this story and every time I see a new email that shows new people either following or favoriting my story. And then all the reviews that show support (and even the constructive criticism) has helped me in my pursuit as a writer and helped me to preserver in this story that I have come to love.**

Chapter 8

 **Gotham City Docks**

There was something about Zeta-tubing to Dick that made travel so much easier. Sure, he enjoyed the memories of the Team flying to their objective, often times getting some extra time to relax before a mission. But the Watchtower's Zeta tube, which was far more advanced than the one that was in Mount Justice, could transfer groups of heroes from Point A to Point B in a less than a second.

That was how Dick went from seeing the beautiful vastness of space to standing on a roof of a building outside the ghetto of the Gotham docks. It also didn't help that the putrid smell of week old fish that didn't make it to the market. _Home sweet home_ , Dick thought.

 _Technically it's not your home anymore since you moved to Bludhaven,_ Tim thought.

Dick turned around and scowled at his young friend. Even without M'gann there physically, who was unable to come (not for lack of trying), the young Martian was still able to keep the telepathic link between the team. Dick just hoped that she would have enough strength to maintain the link for the mission in her weakened state.

 _Alright, ladies that's enough children_ , Artemis thought, _let's find Arsenal so we can learn where the Shadows are._

"Yeah the sooner we go knock some heads, the sooner we can get away from this smell," Cass said, forgetting the telepathy link, and pinched her nose with her fingers. "Seriously how do you guys not gagging right now?"

"Honestly you get used after a year or two," Tim said. "After a while it's almost like smelling the flowers in the spring."

Cassie tried to keep herself from gagging, but was stopped by the sound of a low chuckling. The group of heroes looked around, but saw nothing. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Dick saw a lone robotic hand stick up over the side of the roof. As Dick walked over to the side, the laughing began to die down as the source began a small coughing fit.

Looking over the side, he saw none other than Arsenal, his old friend Roy Harper, who was now doubled over hacking up while standing on the fire escape. It had been a long time since Dick had seen his former friend, and the last time they met it was not under the best circumstances. Of course it wasn't as he was forced to kick Roy off the team after getting nearly all of the team captured on the War World. Dick didn't want to, but Roy was unstable wild card, a constant danger to the Team.

As his coughing subsided, Roy looked up to see Dick standing above him. He did his best to force a cocky smile, "It's about dang time you showed up Bluebird, I was beginning to think you guys wouldn't show."

He extended his robotic hand out to Dick, who grabbed it and helped him up on the roof. "Are you alright?" Dick asked concerned.

"What, the cough?" Roy asked. "It's nothing, I just really needed to clear my throat."

They walked back to the group, who eyed him cautiously in silence. Everyone was rightly nervous about being near Roy. Both Cassie and Tim had been trapped on the War World, and Artemis had felt the pain that he had caused her mentor Oliver and Roy's queen.

"What the heck happened to you?" Artemis asked, breaking the silence. "It looks like Killer Moth went to town on your suit."

Dick couldn't help, but fight a small smirk from forming. Though the two had been going at it back and forth, Dick had to admit that seeing these moments of Artemis acting sassy like she used to be, made him nostalgic of the old days. It especially helped that he wasn't the target for her at the moment.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny kitty-kat," Roy retorted. "You'd look trashy to if you wore the same outfit for over a year."

"I was wondering what that smell was," Cassie said as she took a step away from Roy. "I thought it was just some more fish."

"Look do you guys want to see what the Shadows are doing?" Roy asked. "Or do you just want to continue you're nitpicking my appearance."

"While both have their merits, I guess we'll go with fighting the Shadows," Artemis replied, looking past Roy and at the wharf. "So this is where they been working?"

"Yeah, they brokered a deal with the Falconi family," Roy said as he turned his gaze to a large building near the end of the docks, the words _Falconi_ were somewhat visible. "I've been watching them for a few days as they brought in mysterious looking containers, they have most of them in that building."

"Let's get a move on then," Cassie said and with that the group was off.

It took minutes for them to get near the building. Immediately they spotted numerous armed guards patrolling the building. However, these did not look like grunts who worked for the Shadows.

"Are those Falconi's men?" Tim whispered. "That's surprising. Are you sure these guys are working with the Shadows?"

"I'm positive about it," Roy replied. "Maybe they underestimate us?"

"I highly doubt they would do that after we defeated the Light," Artemis said. "I don't like the looks of this."

"It doesn't matter, this warrants an investigation," Dick said. "Let's take out these guards and investigate the building."

From the look he got from Artemis, he could tell that she had a problem with his plan. But something in his gut told him he needed to get inside that building. So the team split up and went about taking down each of the guards. Luckily, even with Roy, they were able to use their surroundings to quietly take each one out quickly without alerting the defenses.

The team regrouped and made their way through the front entrance of the building. The inside was vast and was a prime real estate for allowing easy storage. The current inside was full of inventory, from crates to tubs. There was so much inventory that Dick was beginning to worry about they wouldn't be able to find what they were looking for. Luckily (yes he was saying luckily) Roy was there to help him.

Walking straight to the rear of the building, they found a large top covering some of the inventory. Removing the top, the group discovered that underneath were large canisters that had "Toxic Chemicals" written on the side.

Dick smiled, they had found what they were looking for. However, that happiness ended quickly when Artemis spoke up.

"That's it, this is all the Shadows were planning to use on Gotham?" Artemis asked.

"Oh, my dear, you have no idea how wrong you are," a menacing voice said behind the team. "But you didn't actually think we'd let you just walk in and see all our toys?"

The group turned around to see Red Hood, guns raised, Starfire and nearly a dozen Shadows ninjas standing there.

"Finally, you can all pay," Hood said as he cocked his gun.

 **That's the end of Chapter 8. The next Chapter will be the big fight between the Team and Hood and the Shadows. Once again if you like the story, please Fav or Follow. If you have anything you'd like to ask me, please send me a comment I love hearing from you guys. It may be a while before I get the next chapter as my semester is winding down and I'm seem to get busier each week, but I promise that I will continue this story.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Silence…. Oh how Dick hated silence, especially when he was standing down the barrel of a loaded gun. He couldn't tell for sure, but Dick just had a feeling that both of Red Hood's handguns were pointed at him for some reason. Neither side made a move, perhaps wanting to see what the other side would do first.

Dick could see Hood pulling the trigger of each gun. Unfortunately he was no Man of Steel, no bullets would be bounding off his skin anytime soon. Fortunately he was trained by the Batman, his skills and reflexes having been honed to their peak abilities.

Using said reflexes, Dick gripped his escrima sticks tightly. Using all the force he had, he hurled both of his weapons ferociously towards Hood. The madman had no time to react as both of his guns were knocked out of his hands. As Hood looked down to his guns, he didn't notice Dick charge towards him until he looked up and was met by a kick to the face.

That was when all hell broke loose. Both sides collided in a mashup of primal fury. Both Starfire and Cassie flew towards each other with extreme intensity. Colliding into each other in the center, they sent off a small shockwave as the grappled. Starfire was able to get a firm grip on both of Cassie's arms. As the young Amazonian struggled to free herself, she noticed the orange alien smirking at her.

"Do you have problems with being in enclosed spaces?" Starfire asked. "Then perhaps we should, as you earthlings say, 'get some fresh air'."

With that, Starfire shot both of them towards the roof of the building. As they reached the top, they had gained enough speed to crash through the roof and out to the open sky. The last thing that was heard, aside from falling ceiling, was Cassie's sream.

"WONDER GIRL!" Tim shouted, but quickly composed himself as he was forced to dodge a number of throwing stars.

With Dick and Red Hood currently dooking it out, Tim, Artemis, and Roy were forced to deal with the Shadow ninjas. Each warrior was equipped with full length katana's that looked sharp enough to cut through steel. Pulling out a few of his batarangs, Tim and the others charged into the fray.

"I knew this was a trap, it was way too easy," Artemis said as she dodged a slash from one of the ninjas, before delivering a round house kick. "How did they know that we were coming?"

"Yeah, that was my bad," Roy said as he blasted a ninja back into column. "I sort of let them see me."

"What?!" Tim asked in shock. "Why would you do that?"

"Honestly it wasn't really my fault, it's kind of funny" Roy said. "Carmine and his nephew were having a touching moments. Can you believe it they were actually to try like humans."

"I swear Roy when this is over, if the Shadows don't kill you, I will," Artemis said as she disarmed the last ninja and knocked him out with a punch to the gut. "That's not a warning, that's a promise."

Red Hood staggered back after receiving another kick from Dick. This time the kick was located in the dead center of his chest, causing Hood to drop down to his knees. As pain radiated through his body, Dick thought he was wearing his opponent down. He was surprised to hear a low chuckling emanating from his adversary.

"That one had some power in it," Hood said as he rubbed his chest. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were upset about something."

"You attacked my friends and threaten an entire city with toxic chemicals," Dick said with a scowl as he now stood over Red Hood. "It's hard for me to say that we can be friends."

"We were never friends, you arrogant bastard," Red Hood hissed as he pulled out his knife and slashed Dick across the chest.

Dick was able to move back quickly, but not quick enough for the blade to tear through his costume and slightly break the skin. Red Hood charged, swinging the blade violently. Dick sidestepped the slash, and was able to get a grasp on Hood's wrist. Twisting Hood's wrist violently, Hood was forced to drop the blade, as he tried to free himself from Dick's grasp.

"Does it hurt, knowing that you that you can't keep those close to you from dying," Red Hood said as he looked at Dick. "That whenever you lead, people seem to always die."

Dick knew that Hood was trying to get in his head, but that didn't stop the words from unnerving him. How many people had he led to their deaths, heck he had nearly lost both Kaldur and M'gann in the few days he came back. Seeing that his words had done their job, Red Hood quickly used his free hand to crash his elbow into Dick's gut.

With the air knocked out of him, Dick lost his balance and dropped down to his knees. As he tried to regain his composure, his face was met by Red Hood's knee.

Cassie was unsure just how high in the air they had traveled, only that the air was beginning to get real thin. She continued to struggle to find a way to release her grip before she lost consciousness. Swinging her legs forward she was able to swing her legs up and kick Starfire in the stomach, causing the Tamaranian to release her grip.

Doing a flip in the air to gain some distance, Cassie tried to catch her breath. She looked down to the faint glimmers of Gotham in the distance. She tried not to think about that as her main focus was trying to maintain an intake of air. As she struggled, Cassie could looked up to see Starfire giggling at her predicament.

"What's the matter, _Wonder Girl_ ," Starfire scoffed. "Having trouble with the altitude?"

"Well at least… I'm not… just some's pawn," Cassie heaved in the thin air. She would admit that she wasn't the best at insults, but something in her opponent changed. There was a bright gleam from her green eyes, but since Cassie was somewhat sure that she was beginning to fade in and out from lack of oxygen, it was hard to be sure.

Starfire pointed her hands to Cassie and fired off a round of energy blasts. Even with her lack of oxygen, Cassie was still able to lift up her bracelets. She had never really tried to block energy blasts before, but she needed to protect herself. Thankfully, it seemed to work as the blast seemed to ricochets off the bracelets.

However, the blasts were able to push Cassie with enough force to knock her down what felt like hundreds of feet. As she looked back to where Starfire was, she saw vastness of sky. That feeling of calm was taken away, by a rough grip that formed around her neck.

"You insolent fool, how dare you mock my honor," The orange skinned alien hissed. "You know nothing of the pain I've endured at the hands of people who corrupt justice."

"I-I have to t-thank you," Cassie chocked, leaving Starfire confused. "I-I can breathe."

With that Cassie delivered a strong kick into Starfire's gut. Losing all the wind in her body, Starfire hunched over, allowing Cassie easy access to grasp her arm tightly. Turning around, Cassie pulled Starfire fully over her body and launched her back to the earth. Not wanting to let her recover, Cassie used all the speed she could muster to launch herself into Starfire and send the them crashing back to the ground.

Red Hood was having a good time. Sure the Team had found the Shadow's operations with the Falconi family, but he could care less about the Shadows grand scheme. All that mattered to him was currently introducing Dick to floor by way of his boot. It was if he had found his happy place in this world of dirt.

"This is exactly what I wanted," Red Hood laughed gleefully. "Me bringing you all the same suffering and pain you had caused me."

As Dick was strewn out on the floor, blood currently coming out of his nose and slightly out of his mouth, Hood noticed something shiny right next to him… his gun.

Picking up his weapon, he pointed it straight towards Dick's head. "I can't believe I'm already bored with busting your face, but I think I'll end this."

Suddenly a sharp object, a batarang, slammed into Red Hood's helmet. Before Hood could remove it, the batarang detonated and Hood screamed out in pain.

Through his slim vision, Dick was able to see that he was now surrounded by Tim, Artemis, and Roy.

"Can you stand, Nightwing?" Tim asked.

"Y-yeah, I think I can," Dick said as he pulled himself up. He noticed that Red Hood had moved back towards the toxic chemicals, holding his helmet with one of his hands while the other still held the gun.

"I SWEAR, WHEN I AM DONE WITH YOU ALL, THEY WILL WRITE SONGS OF THE PAIN I WILL INFLICT ON YOU!" Red Hood screamed, removing his hand to reveal a large opening on his helmet that showed a very angry crimson eye. "SO MUCH PAIN!"

"This is whole thing is getting very old," Dick asked as he struggled to stay up. " Why don't you take off that mask…. _Jason_."

Red Hood did nothing for a minute. However, slowly he used his hands to unclip the helmet. Taking it off, the face underneath was revealed to be that of a young man with mid length dark hair. There was a large scar that led from his temple down his right cheek. The scar passed over his eye, which like the other one was a bright crimson.

Besides Dick, the rest of the team was completely shocked. Artemis' body began to shake violently and she dropped her sword. She took a step towards Jason.

"J-Jason?" She asked as she tried to reach out to him. However, Jason raised his gun to the toxic chemicals, which stopped her dead in her tracks.

"I don't think so Artemis," Jason said, a twisted smile forming on his face. "One more step closer and I send us all sky high."

Artemis was about to say something, when suddenly both Cassie and Starfire slammed down into the floor hard. As both girls stood up to try and regain their stances, they looked over to see the predicament.

"Jason?" Starfire asked concerned.

"Who?" Cassie said.

"GOOD THE WHOLE GANG'S HERE!" Jason said as he began a shrieking laughter that piereced everyone there, even Starfire. Raising his gun to the chemical vats, Jason fired his gun and closed his eyes as he was engulfed in the flames.

The explosion sent a large concussive force that threw everyone back, each person smashing into the wall hard. Nearly everyone was knocked unconscious as the building began to engulf in flames. Before Dick succumbed to the darkness, he noticed a large man, covered in bloody bandages pick up a severly burned body.

 **So that is Chapter 9. Woooooooh! That one was tough and very, very, very long. I will be working on my documentary and my big news article for my advanced reporting class. I'm really sorry if the fight scenes are great, I really need to work on that part of my story writing if I want to make better ones in the future. Once again if you like the story please let me know by either Reviewing, Faving, and Following. Next time we'll get to see more about Kori and Jason's back stories in….. Chapter 10 (DUH DUH DUH!)**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kori awoke laying on her side to the sound of running water, though she struggled to maintain her consciousness. Her entire body ached, even the slightest movement caused her some amounts of pain. So without being able to move, she began to survey her surroundings, trying to get her bearings. She noticed that she was in a large cavern that looked oddly familiar. In the distance she noticed a large opening that was covered a large, ongoing rush of water.

 _Why does this place seems so familiar_ , she thought, _what happened to me?_

Though she should have been lying on cold, rough stones, she felt soft fur pelts underneath her and a wool blanket on top of her. Though most of the cave was engulfed by darkness, there was a small area surrounding her that was illuminated by candles. Suddenly she felt a hand, not her own, sneak around her waist, causing her to begin to panic. Finding a renewed energy, Kori rolled over preparing herself for a fight, only to be surprised with her find.

Laying there, somewhat surprised, was none other than Jason Todd. Breaking into slight smirk he said, "I guess you're not really big into cuddling."

Kori was frozen in shock. That's when the surroundings became extremely familiar to her. This was the cavern that the duo had discovered one day near the Shadows compound in the Mongolian mountains. It was such a beautiful place, leaving Kori in awe, especially when she turned around to talk to Jason he had moved in close enough to where their noses almost touched. That was where they shared their first real kiss.

Since then, that cavern had become a haven of isolation from the ideology of the League of Shadows. Yes, they were there allies, but Kori was always unsure about what there true intentions with their brand of justice.

"Kori, are you alright?" Jason asked, bringing Kori out of her train of thought. "You seemed lost in thought."

Kori remembered that Jason had nearly tried to kill her in his vendetta. She may not have known how they ended back in their cavern, but the pain she felt was still real. However as she looked into his eyes, she struggled to maintain her rage.

Without warning she crashed her lips onto his in an intense passion. Jason welcomed this action by wrapping his arms protectively around the small of her back, pulling her closer to him. He was enjoying the pleasure, until he felt a cool liquid drip onto his cheek. Hestiantly breaking the kiss, he noticed that Kori was cryinig.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. "Why are you crying?"

"You," was all Kori was able to get out at first, causing Jason to become confused.

"Me?" he asked. "W-what did I do?"

"Why did you blow yourself up?" she cried. "Why did you hurt me?"

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked. "You're not making sense."

"Don't lie to me?" Kori shouted as she pushed herself away from Jason. She moved towards the ends of furs and stared off into the darkness of the cavern.

 _Could it all have been a dream?_ , she asked herself in thought. _No! I remember it clearly and my body feels like I was back on the work camps in Tamara. But if Jason doesn't rem-_

Kori was once again cut off from her thinking warm hand gently gripping her shoulders. She turned around to see Jason gazing at her.

"Kori, I admit that I'm not sure what you're talking about," Jason said as he moved closer, his right hand reaching up to cup and stroke her cheek. "But I promise you, I would never want to hurt."

He leaned in close and gently kissed her lips. The pain that Kori had previously felt had melted itself away. As Jason broke the kiss, he leaned in close to her ear.

"I just need you do one thing for me," Jason whispered. "Wake up."

In an instant, everything around Kori was shrouded in darkness. Jason immediately disappeared, leaving Kori in isolation as she herself was also enveloped in shadows.

When she was able to open her eyes again, she was no longer in the beautiful cavern. The darkness was replaced by white walls. The comfortable pelts were replaced by a cold, hard bunk. The soreness returned and emanated throughout her body.

As she struggled to get up, she noticed that she was no longer alone. Turning to her side, she saw the Martian, Jason called her M'gann, floated in mid-air meditation. As Kori stared, she nearly jumped against the wall when M'gann's eyes opened up glowing a bright green.

"Oh good, you're awake," M'gaan said. "Now we can begin."

Jason was in Hell. That was the only way to describe this pit of darkness that had consumed him. Honestly eternal damnation was a small price to pay to ensure his revenge, he just thought it would've been a bit more _flamey_.

 _Well looks like I have the rest of eternity to myself_ , he thought, _this should be fun_.

However, as he took a step forward, a heavy chill went down his spine. He felt as if someone had just dropped two hundred pounds on him, and he was struggling to remain upright. If that wasn't bad enough, he began to hear a familiar laughter fill the air.

 _No, no it can't be_ , Jason thought as he forced himself to turn around. Sure enough, there was a skinny man, dressed in a nice suit. The man would've looked nice, but he looked like something out the worst nightmares… mainly Jason's.

The man's suit was a dashing purple, with a large flower on the lapel. His face was covered in white paint, and his hair was the darkest green. In his hand he held a large crowbar.

"J-Joker?" Jason asked in shock as he felt himself slowly step back.

"That's right boy blunder," The Joker replied. "You didn't think that you would be done with me, did you?"

Boy-blunder he hasn't called me that sin-, Jason thought as he looked down to see that he was back in his old Robin uniform. He continued to step back in fear, until he tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground.

"What's the matter Jason?" the psychotic clown asked as he closed the distance between them. He was towering over Jason, the crowbar gripped tightly his hands. "I'm afraid you're little sidekick club won't be coming to help you…again."

With that Joker raised the crowbar over his head, his intention clear to assault Jason. Memories of the torment and torture caused by this psychopath filled Jason's mind, the agony and stinging feeling as if it had already happened. But as Joker swiftly swung the crowbar, something shocking happened.

Jason caught it.

"I don't need anyone to break a sorry freak like you," Jason said as he kicked out the Joker's legs from underneath him. Now the positions were changed, with Jason standing over the Joker with the crowbar.

"You're different," Joker said with a smirk as he looked up to Jason. And it was true, Jason's clothing had returned back to his leather jacket. "So what are you waiting for? Take your revenge."

Jason lifted up the crowbar in his hands. "With pleasure."

"What?" Joker asked shock as the crowbar came down. However, in the instant it reached him, Joker had vanished. Once again Jason was left alone in the darkness.

 _If that's the worst that Hell can throw_ , Jason thought, _this shouldn't be that bad_.

But then Jason heard sobbing. He looked for the source, but it was nowhere to be found. After doing a couple spins, he noticed a young dark haired girl, standing in the middle of the dark abyss.

 _She definitely wasn't here before_ , Jason thought as he strolled towards her. The young girl couldn't have been more than twelve, thirteen at most. Her hair was short and she skin very pale. She was clothed in a white robe.

As Jason got close to her, he noticed tears streaming down her face and her eyes were closed tightly. He really didn't know her, but something about her made him want to stop her from crying. Getting down on one knee he gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hello, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Leave me alone," the girl sobbed. "You shouldn't be here."

"My name is Jason Todd," Jason said. "Where exactly-"

"LEAVE!" the girl screamed as she opened her eyes, revealing large them to have a large red glow. Immediately Jason's mind was flooded with images. The world on fire, people slaughtered, a being of darkness surrounded by flame. The pain of the visions caused him to close his eyes tightly.

When the visions subsided and he no longer felt pain, he opened his eyes. He no longer was surrounded by darkness, but found himself on a cot in the Shadows base in the sewers. As he struggled to get up, he heard a familiar voice.

"You're lucky Ubu found in time," it was Talia. "A few more minutes and you would've been beyond the effects of the Lazarus particles."

"H-how did you revive me?" He asked.

Talia reached into her shirt and pulled out the vial they had stolen from ACE Chemicals. From looking at it, the contents were now half gone.

"Luckily, you only need a little to revive someone," she said with a smirk, before turning serious. "I'm afraid our little friend Starfire has been captured by the Team."

Jason should've felt his blood boil at hearing those words. Kori, _his Kori_ , had been taken captured by the people he was trying to destroy. But he was surprised to feel nothing, as if it didn't matter to him. Instead his rage boiled when he began to think about how the Team was still alive.

"It doesn't matter," Jason replied. "We must move with our next steps if we want them to pay."

"Very well," Talia said with a sinister smirk. "I'll leave you to rest then."

As she left, Jason returned to his cot to regain some rest. As he began to drift off to sleep, one thought persisted in his head: _who was that girl?_

 **I had part of this one written all the way back to when I was still writing Chapter 3. I hope you like the additions to the new characters in this story. As always if you like please Comment, Fav, and/or Follow. See ya!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I know I haven't said this in a while, but just to make sure I don't get sued. All rights to Young Justice and anything DC are owned by DC Comics and Cartoon Network. I'm finally done with exams and my RA job so I have some more free time to do the story. Hope you guys enjoy.**

 **Chapter 11**

 **Watctower**

Just once Tim would like a mission to not end with an explosion… or at least without losing a teammate. It would seem that with each outing against Red Hood would seem to be the Kryptonite to the Team (especially damaging to their member who is half Kryptonian). The last outing had sidelined none other than Tim's girlfriend, Cassie.

It was clear from the start that the Red Hood wanted to destroy the team, but to nearly kill himself and his own team in a chemical explosion was insane. When Tim woke up after the explosion, his entire body ached, but that paled in comparison to Cass, who was right next to the explosion. If she was a normal human, she would've been incinerated by the chemical blast. Thankfully she was an Amazonian, and a tough one at that, so she was able to survive.

However, that didn't stop the blast from taking a toll on her, forcing her to bed rest in the med bay. Both J'onn and M'gann had told him that Cass was going to fine in a couple days, Tim hadn't left her side in the med bay. Looking around in the bay and seeing Connor and Kaldur lying in the other beds Tim felt a sense of helplessness and anger. He didn't care if Red Hood had turned out to be a former teammate (a former Robin no less), Tim would shove his staff down that guy's throat.

Even though it pained him, he had to leave Cass and go meet with the remaining members of the team. Artemis was currently in her room, and Tim sensed that the recent revelation of Red Hood being a former teammate affected her greatly. As much as he wanted to see if there was a way to comfort her, he knew that it would be best to leave her alone at the moment, lest it he be the next person to end up on a gurney.

No surprise, Tim found Dick standing outside the interrogation room, his back leaning against the glass. Whether he was still reeling from Red Hood's reveal, or was just frustrated at the constant loss their team, it was really difficult to tell.

"Are you okay?" Tim asked as he entered the room.

"I'm fine," Dick replied, without looking at Tim. "Luckily I was far enough from the blast that it did little hurt me. Is Cass going to be okay?"

"Yeah, she'll be okay in a couple of days," Tim said. "But that's not what I meant-"

"Don't start Time," Dick quickly cut him off and turned his back towards him. "I don't want to talk about this."

"We can't deny what happened," Tim said. "That maniac is a former member of the Team. Dick, he's a former Robin. And now he's out on the streets still running a muck."

Spinning around, Dick's grabbed Tim by the collar and looked him straight in the eye. With venom in his voice, Dick said, "I'm only going to say this once….. drop it."

Tim didn't need a second reminder and, using his detective skills, he decided it was best to avoid the subject for the time being. He then turned his attention to the interrogation room. Inside was there resident telepath M'gann currently interrogating their recent prisoner, the woman calling herself Starfire.

"Has M'gann made any progress with our prisoner?" Tim asked.

"It's been a couple of hours, but still nothing," Dick answered. "This girl isn't giving her M'gann an inch."

"What? But can't M'gann just read her mind?" Tim asked, somewhat surprised. "What's the point of being a telepath if you don't use your power?"

"You know that M'gann has been wary of using that power since the incident with the Light," Dick said. "We were hoping that Starfire would be more open after being left by the Shadows, but she isn't giving us anything."

Tim was about to continue, when he noticed the door opening. Standing at the entrance was Artemis, clothed in her Tigress attire, minus her mask. Her face was hard to read as she walked into the room.

"Glad to see that somebody could join us," Dick said as he turned to look back to watch M'gann. "I was wondering if you were going to stay in your room all-"

Dick never got to finish, as Artemis quickly connected her fist to the side of his jaw. This force quickly knocked Dick down on the ground. As he rubbed his jaw in order to soothe the pain, Dick looked back to Artemis.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I told you to wait, you idiot," she replied, anger in her tone. "I told you that it looked too easy. But no, you just had to go in there, and now Cassie is in the med bay."

"Look, we couldn't afford to just sit around and wait," Dick said. "You're right, I should've waited, as we see the Shadows are getting closer to enacting their plan."

Artemis grimaced, as if she was ready to explode. However, she quickly sighed and seemed to compose herself. It was difficult to see who was more surprised, Tim or Dick.

"It doesn't matter, that's not what's important right now," Artemis says, her voice replaced now an edge of sadness. "Did you know?"

"What?" Dick asked as he picked himself up.

"Don't dance around this Dick, you know what I'm talking about," Artemis said. "Did you know that Jason was the Red Hood?"

Dick knew this was coming, but he had hoped he would be able to avoid it. No matter what he said, it would not be an answer that would satisfy Artemis enough to where she wouldn't hit him again. But if he didn't say anything, he would most certainly get hit again.

"I wasn't sure at first," Dick said. "But I did suspect something was up. Soon I was able to put two and two together, but I didn't want to alarm you guys."

" _You didn't want to alarm us_!" Artemis nearly screamed, looking as if she was about beat the life out of Dick. "Jason Todd is alive and wants us all dead, and you think it was better not to tell us."

"Look just lay off me alright, I made a decision and it didn't pan out okay," Dick shouted back. "I don't need you reminding me of it."

"Apparently you do," Artemis said. "You seemed to not remember how keeping secrets nearly destroyed our Team when we fought the Light.

"Team? Hah, let's talk about what the real problem is," Dick said. "Ever since I've come back you've been in a bad mood."

Artemis was a bit taken aback by her comment. She moved closer so that now they were inches apart.

"Excuse me, my attitude is not the problem," Artemis said. "How else am I supposed to act with you putting the Team in danger in order so you can be a solo act."

"I was happy being a solo act, it was you guys who wanted my help," Dick said.

"Well maybe we don't need your anymore!" Artemis shouted.

There was long silence after that. Tim honestly felt safer being in the room with the hostile alien prisoner. Neither Dick nor Artemis said a word, just staring intently at each other, perhaps seeing if the other would break.

"Fine, I think I've over stayed my welcome anyway," Dick said as he moved passed Artemis. "I'm going back down to Gotham, not that you'll care."

And there wasn't another word said after that. Dick left the interrogation, and Artemis turned her attention to the interrogation room, though she looked as if she was about to start pounding the glass window. Tim didn't know whether he should run to stop Dick or try and help Artemis from getting shards of glass lodged in her hand, but something stopped him (mainly because either option would end with him being hit or yelled at).

So for the time being, he would wait patiently for his friends to get answers from Starfire. Hopefully they would be able to get what they needed before the Shadows made the next move. Tim just prayed they weren't too late.

 **Chapter 11 is done. Preview of Chapter 12:**

 **The Interrogation of Starfire**

 **We get to see more of her background and how she got to Earth and involved with the Shadows**

 **The Shadows prepare to put the final touches on their plan**

 **Thanks again guys for staying with the story, like I said I'm finally on summer vacation so I'm going to try and write more. As always if you enjoy the story please FAV, Follow, or Comment. See you guys in Chapter 12.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I know some of you have been wanting to know when Jason was coming back and honestly I wanted to put him in the last chapter, but I felt as if the story would work better if I started this chapter with him.**

 **Chapter 12**

 **Gotham Sewers**

Jason was on fire. Normally the Gotham sewers were usually freezing at this time of year, though he would usually have Kori's warm body next to him to keep the frostbite away. But tonight he didn't need her, as it was almost as if his body was radiating the energy of a sun. Even though he was down to a pair of shorts, his cot was drenched in sweat.

 _I have to find some water_ , he thought as he opened his eyes.

As he situated himself on the side of the cot, he had to rub his face to keep the sweat from running down to his eyes. He ran his hand through his hair to push his hair back and his mouth felt dry. Jason had hoped when his feet hit the floor of his room that the it would cool him, but he was instead greeted by a floor that felt like burning coals.

"Aah!" Jason screamed as he quickly raised his feet from the ground.

The room began to quake as the stones walls began to become unhinged and toppled over. Behind them was nothing but wall after wall of flames that erupted towards him. Jason only had a second to roll to the other side of the cot before the flames nearly incinerated him. Suprisingly the flames stopped as the neared the bed.

As Jason slowly rose from the ground, he discovered he was no longer the only person in the room. The flames began to circle around two individuals, who seemed to be having a conversation with each other.

One of the individuals was kneeling while the other, shrouded in swirling shadows, stood over the other. The one defining feature for the standing individual was the large four, red piercing eyes. The other individual was more familiar to Jason.

It was the young girl in the white robes from his dreams. Only this time she seemed different, her arms were covered in strange red markings that went all up and down her arms. She seemed to be bowing in submission to the other individual.

"What is going on here?" Jason blurted out.

Suddenly both of the individuals stared daggers at Jason. The flames extended and lashed out wildly towards Jason and began to engulf him. He howled in pain as his skin began to roast from the heat of the flames. He closed his eyes as the flames reached his face.

Suddenly, as if instantaneously, the pain and the heat went away. Opening his eyes, Jason found that the room had returned to normal, and even felt cold. Jason moved to the side of the cot and tried to catch his breath.

It may have been a figment of his imagination, but the flames felt all to real. Getting up, he went grabbed his shirt and jacket and went in search of Talia

 **Watchtower, Interrogation Room**

"I'll ask nicely just one more time," Artemis, now wearing her Tigress mask said, "what are the Shadows up to and where do we find them?"

And for the thousandth time, there was no sound coming from Starfire. Artemis had been trying to keep her coll, but this had been going nowhere for at least four hours. Not too mention that her last fight with Dick had recently caused him to quit the team… _again_.

So it was no surprise to M'gann, who was sitting in the chair across from Starfire, when Artemis launched herself at the prisoner and held her up by her collar.

"Listen to me you lowlife, I don't have time for your games," Artemis yelled. "You're Shadow pals have left you for dead, tell us where we can find them?!"

"You dare to call me a lowlife," Starfire scoffed. "That is rich coming from the likes of you. Jason has told me a great deal about all of you, and it would seem that I'm the most honorable in the room."

"Says the girl who is working for a covert organization that wants to eradicate the social order," Artemis said as she released Starfire. "That seems _real_ honorable."

"I would not have worked with the Shadows, but they were necessary for Jason's plans," Starfire said as she set back down in her chair. "And I promised Jason that I would help him seek his revenge."

"And just how is Jason alive?" Artemis said. "We buried him, how is that possible?"

"If only you showed this same intensity when Jason was captured," Starfire smirked at Artemis. "Perhaps you're green friend would like to search through my mind and leave me catatonic."

Artemis almost lashed out at Starfire again, but M'gann raised her hand and held her friend back with telekinesis. After a small moment of struggling, Artemis relaxed and looked at her friend, who unlike her seemed to be almost at ease with the whole situation.

 _She has to be up to something_ , Artemis thought.

"Artemis, I think it's time that we move to plan B," M'gann said as she closed her eyes. "Go see if Tim has been able to bring Dick back."

Knowing what was about to happen, Artemis nodded silently and walked out of the room. Starfire watched the cat-themed ninja walk out of the room, leaving her with the Martian. As soon as the other heroine was gone, Starfire turned her attention to the green skinned woman, who seemed to almost look like she was in a sleep-like trance.

"So is this what you the earthlings call good cop, bad cop?" Starfire asked. "Is this where you try to bargain with me?"

"I don't enjoy doing this, but you don't seem to want to give us a choice," M'gann said, still choosing to keep her eyes short. "I'm afraid you want be going catatonic, but you will get a firsthand experience of my telepathic powers."

Before Starfire could say anything, M'gann's eyelids sprung wide opening. There were no pupils, only masses of bright green color that filled her eyes. Suddenly Starfire's froze as her body began to tighten. It was if her blood flow had momentarily stopped, and an uneasy coolness spread throughout her body. For M'gann the experience was far different. Though there was no physical distress, her mental state struggled to maintain control over the strong-willed Tamaranian.

 _The walls of the interrogation room faded away and were replaced with firm stone walls that looked as if they had been there for centuries. The room was now filled with ornate decorations, such as statues of elegantly dressed warriors and beautiful plants. There was a large wooden door near where M'gann was standing. She noticed that at the opposite ends of there was a large throne with a young woman, who looked similar to their prisoner Starfire, though her hair was black and her eyes were purple, sprawled out on the throne as if she was trying to take a nap._

 _Suddenly the large door opened and two large, armored reptilian guards entered. They were pulling a young red headed girl, who looked no more than twelve. As they reached the throne, the guards threw the young girl down on the ground._

' _Starfire?' M'gann thought._

" _Komand'r, what on Tamara is going on here?" Starfire asked. She spoke in a different language, but thanks to M'gann's telepathy she was able to understand. "Why are these creatures taking our people?"_

" _Oh my dear Koriand'r, the answer to that is quite simple," this Komand'r said. "In exchange for not invading our planet, I have provided these lovely creatures with a plethora of our people for their slave trade… yourself included."_

" _B-but mother and father would never allow this," Starfire, or Koriand'r, said in disbelief._

" _Of course they wouldn't, our parents value justice and fair treatment above all," Komand'r said. "But I'm afraid that they won't be worrying about that anymore."_

 _Koriand'r looked at her sister in shock. She tried to speak, but something stopped her. The two guards then roughly grabbed Koriand'r's arms and pulled her away. As she was dragged away, Koriand'r focused in on her sister._

" _If you somehow make your way back here little sister, you'll have to address me as Queen," Komand'r said as she began to laugh._

 _(flash of light)_

 _M'gann noticed she was no longer in throne room, but was outside. The stone walls were replaced with an open space and a smell of sweat and exhaust. Looking around, M'gann noticed that numerous people, of all species chained together, were working on at a conveyer belt that was lifting large quantities of dirt from the ground._

 _As the dirt reached some of the slaves, they would dig through them and some were able to find special little stones. As M'gann continued to turn around she noticed a large number of the reptilian aliens from the previous vision. Two of the guards snarled as if they saw M'gann, but they moved forward right through her._

 _Turning around she found that their target was a young red headed woman, currently trying to help up another slave who had collapsed to the ground._

' _Starfire', M'gann thought._

 _Starfire had grown from the previous vision, looking more like her present day counterpart. The guards quickly got behind her and shoved her down to the ground. As they began to laugh at what they had done, they failed to notice the green energy that began to swell around her arms. By the time they noticed, Starfire had turned around and blasted holes through both of their chests._

 _As the guards crumpled to the ground, Starfire reached down to grabbed her chains and use her energy blasts to break them. She then sprinted away from the conveyer belt as the other guards began to chase after her. As she ran, she noticed that there was a spaceship in the distance._

 _Somehow she was able to reach it before the jobs caught her and activated it, blasting off._

 _(flash of light)_

 _M'gann noticed that she was now surrounded by a large group of angry earthlings, armed with torches. They had gathered around in a circle that had what appeared to be an altar in a center. Being held on the altar was Starfire, who was unconscious._

 _A middle aged man made his way to the altar. In his hand he carried a large hunting knife and he gripped it tightly. As he reached Starfire, he gently stroked her hair and turned to address the crowd. "There is nothing more dangerous to this world than aliens," the middle aged man spit as he raised his knife up. "They have brought nothing but death and destruction to our homes. This is our chance to fight back."_

 _As he prepared to pierce Starfire with his blade, a loud bang was heard and the man froze. Looking down at his chest, M'gann noticed a hole through his chest. The man crumpled to the ground and the crowd began to freak out and scatter._

 _As the crowd began to rapidly disperse M'gann noticed one young, dark haired young man make his way toward the altar. In his hand he held a 9mm handgun._

' _Jason,' M'gann thought._

 _Jason then cut the Starfire's bonds and carried her bridal style away from crowd._

As M'gann released her telepathic link, the interrogation room returned to its original dimensions. Both M'gann and Starfire were still sitting in their chairs. Starfire shifted uncomfortably in her chair, and refused to make eye contact with M'gann.

"Well Princess Koriand'r, this has been very enlightening," M'gann said as she got up from her chair and walked to the door. "However, I'm afraid that I must be going, so until we meet again, please enjoy your new accommodations."

 **Gotham Sewers**

As Jason navigated through the sewers, he was met by numerous League of Shadows ninjas who were moving the remaining chemicals and equipment into place. Normally if Kori was here, she would make him question as to what the Shadows were planning. However, without her there he didn't seem to care what they wanted to do.

He found Talia and Ubu standing in a large room, near a table with blue prints on it. As he neared them, Talia took note of him and moved from the table.

"Oh, Jason you're awake again," Talia said as she stood in front of him. "It's good to have you back, we're nearing the start of the plan."

She stopped him from moving forward, but that didn't stop Jason from getting a glimpse of the maps on the desk. Though he didn't really want to care, something in his head told him to memorize the map. Thanks to an ideographic memory, he

"I don't care about the plan anymore Talia," Jason said as he pushed her hands off his shoulder. "You promised me the heads of the Team, and I'm going to collect. Now."

"How dare you speak to the Mistress like this," Ubu said. "Need I remind you that if it wasn't for the Mistress, you would not-"

"That's enough Ubu," Talia interrupted. "I hate to see you go Jason, but I did promise you that. You have my blessing to leave."

Jason said nothing, only turning around to make his way out of the sewer. Talia returned back to her table and continued to inspect her operation.

"Mistress do you think it is wise to let him free like that?" Ubu asked.

"We are no longer in need of his services Ubu," Talia replied, not even looking up from the map. "If he wants to continue his silly little vendetta than it will no longer be our problem. Have the men to continue moving the chemicals and explosives into place. Soon Gotham will be ours."

 **This is the longest chapter that I've ever written (or at the very least this has been very close). If you guys have any questions for me please take time to send me a private message and I'll respond back in no time. Also if you still like the story please COMMENT, FAVORITE, OR FOLLOW THE STORY. Thank you guys and I hope to be back in Chapter 13.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

He may have been gone for a while, but there was something about Gotham that always felt like home to Dick. It was where he first learned to trapeze, where he lost his family, where he gained a new one. There was no doubt that the city held a plethora of emotions for him.

He wanted to be angry at the Team, he really tried to stay mad at them. He wasn't ready to come back to the Team yet, he was doing fine by himself, and he could solve this if they weren't holding him back. But with each roof he jumped on to he struggled to keep that anger.

Finally Dick landed on a particular large roof in the middle of the city. It wasn't as high as some of the other buildings near it, but it still gave him an ample view of the walked to the edge of the building and peered over the edge. Despite the chaos going on, it looked as if business as usual, with the people of Gotham going about their normal lives. Some days Dick wished that he could just be one of them, unaware of the dangers that go around them.

When he turned around, Dick noticed that he was unable to lose his tail.

"You can come out now Tim," Dick said. "You need to remember to keep your distance, otherwise your target will always get the drop on you."

Tim hopped over the ledge of the building. "Well most people probably won't have the training we had."

"So unless you're here for the sights and smells of Gotham, I assume you're here to try and bring me back," Dick said. "Well you can forget it; I can tell when I'm not wanted somewhere."

"You and I both know that isn't true," Tim said as he neared closer to Dick. "Things might be rough right now, but that doesn't mean we stop being friends."

Dick turned away from Tim.

"Something else is bothering you," Tim continued. "You try not to show it, but ever since we found out who Hood was you've been agitated. Well more agitated."

"I'm fine," Dick said. "It doesn't matter who Hood his, he's a criminal and like every criminal he's going down."

"It's more than that Dick, even you have to admit that this is personal," Tim argued. "He's a former Robin who's turned into a gun toting psychopath!"

Dick quickly spun around and whacked Tim across the jaw. The force of the blow knocked Tim off his feet and sent him crashing to the ground. As he rubbed his jaw, Tim looked to see Dick standing above him.

"You didn't know him like I did," Dick said. "Jason was different. He didn't find us like you did, we found him."

Dick stepped away and allowed Tim to stand up. "He was one of the toughest kids I've ever met," Dick continued. "He was headstrong, confident, and he wouldn't even bat an eye lash if he had to face Bane himself."

"So what happened to him?" Tim asked. Dick grimaced at the question, but didn't stop.

"We had this tip," Dick said. "The Joker was planning something with the Gotham water supply. While we tried to figure out what to do, Jason decided he'd take matters into his own hands."

"So seeing that I never heard of any problem of with the reservoir, I assume Jason was able to stop him?" Tim asked.

"The Reservoir was never the target, Jason was," Dick's voiced waivered, the memory of that event coming back to him. "The Joker captured him and….when we found the body it was most unrecognizable."

Tim noticed that something had changed in Dick. Even when his plan to take down the Light was beginning to falter, Tim had never seen his mentor and friend so shaken before. He then remembers that Jason was a Robin, the second Robin no less.

"I'm guessing you and Artemis were close to him?" Tim guessed to which Dick gave him a surprised look. "I sort of guessed that was why she was so upset with you back on the Tower."

"He was like a little brother to us, and we failed him," Dick said. He was about to continue until he noticed something on Tim's chest. It was small…circular…and red.

Without warning Dick kicked Tim straight in the chest, sending the younger hero back a few feet. It was just in time as a bullet whizzed past the spot where Tim was. Knowing that more were coming, Dick quickly went for cover in order to avoid the coming bullets. As Dick and Tim found cover on the front ledge of the roof, they heard a voice call out to them.

"Here's how we're going to play the game," the voice called out. "For Robin it goes two points for a leg, five for an arm, ten for the chest, and fifty for the head."

Dick raised his head over the ledge, trying to spot the shooter. Though it would've taken a normal human forever to find the shooter, not many normal humans had training from Batman. Dick spotted a figure sitting on a nearby rooftop. However, he quickly had to duck down in order to avoid another swarm of bullets.

"And for the original boy blunder," the voice called out again. "Why don't we just make it easy and just double the scores."

"Did you get a good look at who's shooting?" Tim asked. "Any idea who it is?"

"Surprisingly it's Deadshot _, who do you think it is_?" Dick asked.

"No need to get touchy, Hood's not the only one who would love to get use us as target practice," Tim said as he reached to grabbing a batarang from his utility belt and sliding it to Dick. "Think you have a good shot?"

Dick didn't reply, but gripped the batarang tightly. Calculating the necessary variables, he launched the batarang into the distance and hoped that Jason would be unable to notice it coming towards him.

Jason was too busy trying to set his sights on his next shot, that he didn't notice the buzzing that was coming nearer to him. Suddenly he heard something crash into his gun, and looked to see a batarang jutting out of the barrel. It wouldn't have been a problem, but he noticed that the batarang began beeping.

"Lucky shot," Jason said as he threw the gun away. He had just a few seconds to jump off the building before the batarang exploded. As he began free falling, he reached into his jacket pocket and produced a grappling gun and hooked it on Dick and Tim's building. He quickly launched himself up to the roof, surprising both Tim and Dick.

Each warrior prepared themselves for battle. Tim brought out his bo staff and Dick produced his eskrima sticks. Reaching into his jacket, Jason produced a large military grade knife. Neither side moved an inch.

"It's just like one of those old western movies," Jason said. "You know when the hero comes and takes his vengeance on those who wronged him."

"Or it's the part where the crazy outlaw just shows how truly insane he really is," Tim retorted.

"Not helping Tim," Dick said to the younger man. "Jason, look we don't have to do this-"

"Yeah I'm going to have to stop you there Dick, I think I speak for everyone when I say this is long overdue," Jason replied. "Besides I want to see what this new Robin's got."

Without warning, Jason closed the distance between them with lightning speed. Dick had to block Jason's left leg from connecting with his sternum. Tim was a little less lucky as he had to jump back to avoid being slashed across the chest by Jason's knife. Still Jason was quick enough to still leave an opening on his suit.

"Is this my replacement Dick," Jason said as he looked at the older hero. "Gotta admit he's a little on the slow-side, but hey just makes him more expendable, right?"

Both Dick and Tim charged at their aggressor. While Dick quickly went for Jason's legs, Tim swung at Jason's head with his bo staff. However, Jason was dashed to the side, leaving his attackers with nothing to hit but the air.

As Dick turned to where Jason was, he was met with the heel of Jason's boot. The force of the kick knocked the young hero back off his feet, and sending him crashing into the ledge head first. Dick tried to get up, but his head rang out in immense pain.

Tim lunged at Jason again with his bo staff, but it seemed little ineffective against the assailant. Jason simply sidestepped and ducked each swing that Tim used against him.

"Come on kid, is that all you got?" Jason taunted as he spun around a particularly hard swing. "I guess the big guy is watering down the training process."

"Well I guess anything is better as long as you don't rush into things and get yourself killed, wouldn't you say?" Tim said.

This seemed to pinch a nerve with Jason, who didn't reply to the comment. Tim felt the change, and noticed that Jason somehow began to move faster with more ferocity. He tried to for another swing in order to capitalize on this change, but it was caught by Jason.

"Alright little bird, you got quite the mouth on you," Jason said. "But let's see if you can talk after I clip a wing."

Before Tim could say anything, Jason gripped Tim's right arm and slung it over his shoulder. With a rapid twisting motion, a loud cracking sound was heard. Tim howled out in pain.

However, he was not given a chance to rest when Jason slung the rest of Tim around and smashed him heavily on the concrete. Tim was out cold.

"Tim," Dick groaned as he struggled to get up from his spot.

"Now Dick, I know are little spat is between us, but I think this catch will have to do for now," Jason said as he reached into his jacket pocket. "But I don't want you following us yet until me and the new blood can get to know each other better."

Jason pulled out a small, round object with a pin on it. He pulled the pin and tossed it over toward Dick. As it landed near Dick's head, it began a continuous beeping. Even in his disoriented state, Dick was able to make out what a grenade was.

Using all the energy he could muster, he rolled himself over the side of the building, in hopes of a close nearby rooftop. Fortunately, Dick was correct in thinking that there was a nearby rooftop to land on. However, that did not prevent him crashing down hard on the rough ground of the building.

"Dick!" a feminine voice called out before Dick blacked out.

 **Sorry this chapter took so long, but I've been actually quite busy, with work, vacation, dealing with my sister's puppy, and just my general laziness. There was a while that I just thought about giving up on it, but thankfully I persevered, hopefully I can continue that perseverance when that feeling of giving up inevitably comes back. Again if you enjoy the story, please leave a comment, maybe tell me what you think I could do better, or what you just enjoy so much. Thanks again guys**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 _Dick sprinted over the buildings as fast as he could across the rooftops of Gotham City. Though he wouldn't admit to anyone, he had always had wished to have some sort of super power. When you deal with people who can control water, use telepathy, and even good ole' fashioned super strength, you get a little jealous. He wouldn't mind to have Wally's power of super speed to get to his meeting._

 _But he couldn't worry about that right now, nor did he need any powers. He made is way on to a particularly large roof, and looked around the city. It felt like only yesterday that he was running along these roofs as a young boy. A lot of memories came flooding back._

" _So it would seem I'm here first," Dick said out loud. "Unless you want to say something else?"_

" _I'm actually quite surprised that it took you that long to show up," a masculine voice said. "I thought I taught you better than that."_

 _Dick turned around to see none other than Batman standing a few feet away from him. "You did," Dick replied. "But what am I doing here Bruce? We haven't talked in a while."_

" _True, but this is very important," Bruce said. "I understand that you needed your space to become your own hero, but I have a special request for you."_

" _This isn't going to be 'please watch the batcave while I'm gone for the weekend' thing is it?" Dick asked as he heard something coming near him._

 _Dick ducked just in time as a body flew over him. It was a small figure, a young teenager that probably was about as old as he was when he started. As he got a clearer picture of the young boy, he realized that he was in a costume…. The Robin suit._

" _Dick I'd like to introduce you to the new Robin, Jason Todd," Bruce said._

When Dick woke up, his body shook slightly in pain. He was no longer laying on the cold rough surface of a Gotham City skyscraper. Instead he was met by a soft and comfortable surface, that helped to soothe his aches. As he began to lift himself up, he noticed that he was back on the Watchtower… mainly the med bay.

"It looks like you have finally woken up," a voice said. "It is good to see you awake my friend."

Dick turned over to see Kaldur sitting in the bed next to him. While he still looked as if he had seen better days, the Atlantean was looking better. Dick still noticed that there were heavy bandages from where he was wounded back at ACE Chemicals. Even if he still was injured, it was still good to see Kaldur awake.

"Kaldur, you're awake?" asked the astonished Dick.

"Yes, I'm not one hundred percent yet, but I'm getting better," Kaldur replied. "However, you seem a little more distraught since ACE Chemicals."

 _Understatement of the century,_ Dick thought.

"Dick," a weak voiced wheezed, causing Dick to turn around. Its owner was none other than Cassie, who still looked pretty banged up. "W-where is T-tim?"

If there was anyway Dick could find a rock on this highly advanced, space floating Watchtower, he would gladly crawl under it and never be heard from again. But that wasn't an option, at least until he could find Zatanna and ask her to make one with magic.

"I'm sorry Cassie, they got him," Dick said trying to act calm, but he felt his words were struggling to come out. "I-I promise that we'll get him back."

Cassie didn't say a word, but her expression showed that she was a confident as Dick that her boyfriend would be rescued. Dick hated what Jason had done to the Team, torn them apart piece by piece. He knew that in order to save his friends, he would have to take that rogue down.

 **Gotham Warehouse**

As Tim regained consciousness, he was met with an immense amount of pain that radiated through his body. Most of the pain was centered around his arm, but there was still a ringing in his head. He tried to move, but found it in vain as he discovered that he was strapped down tightly to a chair.

He noticed that he was no longer on the roof, but he was now situated in a worn down room, with broken glass, rotted floors and a rather rotten smell filling his nose. If his guess was right then he was in the old shipping district in Gotham.

"I'm glad you're awake," Tim heard a voice say. He looked over to see Jason leaning against the wall, very interested in cleaning his gun. "I was afraid the trauma had put you in shock."

"Like you care," Tim hissed through the pain. "Why am I here? I thought it was you're big plan was to wipe us out."

"I have no qualm with you songbird," Jason said as he moved off the wall and walked towards Tim. "My battle is with those who betrayed me. Now if you and the little auxiliary brigade want to join in, I can't guarantee your safety."

"So if I'm not your target, then why don't you let me go?" Tim asked.

"Oh well just cause I don't have you in my sights doesn't mean that you don't have a purpose," Jason laughed.

"Dick," Tim realized. "You honestly think that Dick will come looking for me and then you'll try and take him out. You're a fool."

"Why it is surprising to think that Dick would risk his life for a captured teammate, I am quite confident he'll come for you," Jason said. "And I will end him."

Jason leaned in close to Tim, looking at him at eye level. As Tim looked inside his red pupils, he could almost feel the years of hatred, intensity and pain that Jason kept inside his being. It somehow made Tim almost forget about all the training he down with Bruce and Dick, all the hard work it took to steady himself in danger. He actually felt scared.

"Stay comfortable little bird," Jason said as he moved away from Tim. "You're liberator will be here soon."

 **Very short chapter I think, but honestly I'm happy to be done with it. Leave a comment if you have any ideas, or suggestions, or maybe you want to guess what's going to happen next. Also if you haven't already, please follow and fav the story. The more I see people, do it the more I feel more motivated to continue. Thanks again guys, you guys have been awesome and I couldn't be more proud of ever deciding to start this story. I can't believe that I'm up to fourteen chapters!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 **Watchtower**

"I-I still don't understand it," Garfield said. "I thought Jason was dead, how can he be the Red Hood? Isn't he- wasn't he dead?"

"Yes he was Garfield, but the Shadows must have revived him with a Lazarus Pit," Artemis explained.

Garfield, aka Beast Boy, had made his way back to the Watchtower along with the rest of Alpha Team after they had completed their mission from Rhelsia. What was expected to be a warm welcome quickly was met with a cold response, which surprised the young superhero. The trio, Garfield, Barbra (Batgril), and Virgil (Static) were now gathered in the control room of the Watchtower with Artemis.

"And now he has Robin and we have no idea where to find him?" Virgil asked. Though

"M'gann is searching the entire city of Gotham right now with Ship, we will find him," Artemis said, though she couldn't give the answer while looking at Virgil.

"What about his lady friend?" Garfield asked. "Couldn't we just get M'gan to probe her mind a little and find out where they are?"

"That wouldn't do any good," another voice called out, causing everyone to look and see Dick standing in the doorway.

Dick had managed to get his Nightwing costume back on, but he did not have the same old luster as he previously did. The suit was still torn up from the previous battle he had commenced against the Red Hood. The largest slash on his tarnished uniform occurred in a diagonal pattern, nearly going from his right arm to his left waist. He had neglected to put his mask on and despite being able to walk, he had a slight limp.

"Dick, what on earth are you doing out of the infirmary?" Artemis asked concerned. "You're nowhere near a hundred percent yet."

"M'gann's tried to reach inside the prisoners mind, but she's being met with heavy resisitance," Dick huffed. "Besides the princess has been in our custody before Hood took Tim."

Unbeknownst to everyone, save for Garfield, a notification appeared on one of the monitors.

"Guys?" Garfield asked, but no on listened.

"So what? We're just supposed to sit here and do nothing?" Virigl asked impatiently. "This guy has our friend."

"I know your frustration Virgil, and trust me we **will** find him," Dick said as he placed a hand on the young superhero's shoulder. "And when we do, we will put an end to Hood once and for all."

"Guys?," Garfield said again, but again no one heard him.

"Jason, Dick. His name is Jason," Artemis said. "And what do you mean once and for all?"

"I mean that Ho- Jason won't stop until he sees all of us dead," Dick replied. "That only leaves one logical conclusion; it's either him or us."

"I-I can't believe what I'm hearing," Artemis said shocked. "You're saying that after Jason comes back, you want to put him back in the ground again?"

"Guys?"

"How many more team members does it take for you to understand that this is the only way," Virgil answered. "I don't like it either, but I don't want anyone else sent to the med bay…. or worse."

"But he isn't just some criminal, he's one of us," Barbra finally spoke up, after being silent for so long. "He may have changed, but I can't believe that there isn't a way that we can reach him."

"Guys?!" Garfield screamed, finally getting their attention.

"What Garfield?" Artemis asked as she moved closer to Garfield.

"There is a notification on the screen," Garfield said.

Artemis went over to the monitor. After pressing a few of the buttons, she sent the video up to one of the loading screens. It finished loading and opened up for the whole gang to see.

The video revealed Tim, bruised and battered, restrained to a chair. He was situated in a worn down room, surrounded by walls that were covered with moss and busted plaster. Tim's head was drooping and his were closed, having probably slipped into unconsciousness from the beatings.

"Well hello ingrates," Jason's voice came from behind the camera. "I can't somewhat feel that you guys aren't truly taking me seriously."

Jason moves in front of the camera now. His glowing red eyes send chills to everyone standing in the room.

"I'll admit, killing you jokers has proven a little more difficult than I first thought," Jason said as the corners of his lips twisted into a devious smile. "But I've decided to up the ante. Nightwing has until eight o'clock, that's thirty minutes, to come to the Daggett construction site. If he fails to do so, or I sense that one of you other losers tries to tag along, or you'll get to bury another Robin."

The video shut off immediately.

"What are we waiting for?" Garfield said. "We gotta save Tim!"

"You heard him Garfield, if he sees us he'll kill Tim!" Virgil replied.

"But we have to do something," Garfield replied. "What can we should do Dick?"

There was no answer. Looking back to where Dick was supposed to be standing, the other heroes noticed that he was no longer there.

 **Watchtower Armory**

Dick was getting some last minute practice with his escrima sticks when he noticed he was no longer alone in the armory. Turning around, he was met by a frustrated Artemis, who had her hands on her hips.

"You can't possibly be serious?" she said.

"You got a better way to save Tim?" Dick said with venom. "How many more teammates have to end up in the infirmary before we decide that he's just another villain to be taking down."

There was no response from Artemis. Instead she delivered a sharp slap to Dick's right cheek.

"Some kind of villain?! Dick its Jason." Artemis said. "You can't pretend that this doesn't matter to us. We basically raised him to become a warrior for justice, and let me tell you that is not normal for a kid. We tried our best, but you can't believe that the reason for Jason acting like this gun-toting psychopath is because of us."

Dick couldn't believe what he was hearing. After all that had happened to them, all the pain that Jason had caused, Artemis was defending him. And what hurt the most was the fact that some part of him understood that it was true. But he couldn't dwell on that now, not while Tim was in danger.

"I have to go," Dick said as he strolled past her.

"Please don't do this," Artemis said as Dick walked out of the armory.

 **Wooh this chapter is over. Sorry I've been busy, I just started my senior year of college (Real World coming soon *franting wheezing*). I'll still try to continue the story, though I will admit that I struggled with this chapter (if you feel it's not the best, I'm sorry). Once again please fav, follow, and comment! Thank you again you guys.**


	16. Author's Note- My Short Film

Author's Note:

I'm really sorry to say this, but I'm struggling to continue this story. That does not mean that I have given up, but that I am going to redo this story. I need to try and redo the chapters because I feel that Zora is not a very interesting characters. I am truly sorry, but very greatful at all the people who have decided to follow my story.

I will have the story redone soon and I will try not to change too much. Please keep following this story to learn of when the new version will come back. Thank you very much and may the force be with you!


	17. Chapter 16

**I'm so sorry it took me so long to write this chapter, there were many things going on with my life: 1) Beginning my final semester of college, 2) working on my internship; 3) working on my film** _ **Rememberance**_ **over my final winter break; 4) working on another film called** _ **Chandler and Holly**_ **as a camera man; 5) getting a new laptop and having to work on getting Mircosoft word back. But I'm back for this chapter and I really want to get this story done and work on the next segment in the series.**

 **Chapter 16**

 **Somewhere in the Gotham Sewers**

"Move the canisters into position under that manhole," Ubu ordered his ninja dregs as they moved large drums of hazardous chemicals. "Link the timers up to the main receiver when you get them in place."

The ninjas nodded in silence and placed the canisters in their position with a few other barrels directly under the manhole. One of the ninjas pulled out at detonator device and placed it gently on one of the barrels. After doing so, the ninjas bowed in reverence to Ubu, causing the large man to grin menacingly.

"Be careful Ubu, to the untrained eye, it would appear that you enjoy being in a position of power," Talia said from behind Ubu, causing the larger man to jump in surprise. "And we know that lust for power can lead to dangerous and…sinister things."

"Mistress I promise that I only wish for your dream to come true," Ubu neverously prostrated himself in front of the smaller woman. "I promised my life in service to your father and in doing so to you as well."

Talia stood over Ubu and gently traced her hand on his shoulder, causing the man to shake. "All is well my dear servant," Talia said assuredly. "Soon Gotham will be ours and the League of Shadows will be returned to its rightful place as judges of society."

Ubu smiled and lifted himself up to stand before his mistress. He stood at attention, but he was somewhat unsure in his facial expression. This did not go unseen by Talia, who placed her hand on his chest.

"Something troubles you?" she asked in a manner that Ubu was unfamiliar with…almost tenderly.

"Yes, it is the Hood," Ubu replied, wary of her response. "I mean no offense Mistress, but you're trust in the boy is troublesome. How can you trust that he will accomplish his mission?"

Talia chuckled and moved closer to Ubu, tracing her arm down his chest. "It matters little whether the child puts an end to those sidekicks or not my dear Ubu," she said with a silky hum in her voice. "Once the world is at our feet, no one will stop us."

Talia turned around and strolled away into the darkness, leaving Ubu unusually warm.

 **Daggett Construction Site**

The Daggett Construction Company was blight on the city of Gotham. The company was know for creating the worst of the eyesores in the city, after forcing people who couldn't afford it out of their homes. Thankfully the founder, John Daggett, was now facing a federal indictment and in his absent, the company had failed. But that left a large construction site in the middle of Gotham. Dick had always felt that it was an eyesore that really should've been torn down long ago and that he never wanted to walk inside there.

But here he was, standing on a building just outside of the rundown facility. Dick looked down the street in both directions. The area was in a poorer neighborhood in Gotham, with worn down buildings that were already scheduled for demolition.

 _It's almost like Jason specifically chose an area where there weren't many people_ , Dick immediately shook the thought out of his head _. He's just another criminal, he needs to be stopped._

Jumping off the building he made his way towards the entrance of the sight. Though the frontal approach would've probably been condoned by Bruce, there really wasn't another way to deal with this. If he wanted to get Tim back, he had to play by Jason's rules.

Entering through the opening in the fence, Dick was greeted by a skeletal building that was created by steel girders, that reached about five stories. There was a office building near the center of the facility, which had broken windows and nasty graffiti written on it. But it was the center of the complex that caught Dick's attention.

There was bruised body, tapped to almost entirely to a chair (save for one arm) was Tim Drake. The young hero had his mouth tapped over started to shake as he saw his mentor walking towards him. Dick rushed towards his friend and immediately removed the tape.

"SNIPER!" Tim was able to breathe before Dick dodged back to avoid the oncoming bullet.

Dick quickly made his way over to the nearest cover which was the office building. He managed to just hide behind the wall as another barrage of bullets rocketed by him. After a small pause of silence, there came a low banging.

"Diiiiiiick, come out and play," a voice called out over the banging. "DIIIIIIIICK, come out AND PLAAAAAY."

Dick reached into his belt and pulled out a Wing Ding. As he peered out of his cover, he stared out towards Tim.

"Tim!" Dick called. "Floor?"

Though showing signs of fatigue and weakness Tim called out. "Third floor."

Dick pressed a button on the Wing Ding, which caused the tool to begin light up. Dick leaned out of his cover and hurled the weapon towards the third floor of the building. He leaned back and counted to five.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

There was a loud bang on the ground and a large groan. Coming out from his cover, he found Jason strewn out on the ground, his sniper rifle lay in pieces next to him. Jason slowly lifts himself off the ground, his clothes still steaming, and looks at Dick through his red helmet.

"You know I should be used those things blowing up on me, but I guess I was just focused on blowing your head off," Jason said as he dusted himself off, as if the fall did nothing to phase him.

"I was kind of hoping that you would at least break something on the way down," Dick said as he readied himself in a fighting stance. "Guess I'll just have to break something myself."

"Ooh fierce," Jason said he also prepared for his fight. "You actually sound like you want to hurt me."

There was a small pause and not a sound was heard. Suddenly Dick rushed towards Jason with incredible speed that shocked Jason so much that he was nearly unable to dodge a roundhouse kick to the face. Jason threw a left hook towards Dick who dodged back and fired a quick two shot into Jason's gut.

Jason staggered back, a bit surprised at the ferocity of the blows, but reorganized himself and rushed towards Dick again. Jason threw two quick jabs, which were blocked by Dick without effort at all. Trying to catch Dick off guard, Jason tried to smash his leg into Dick's side. However, the older warrior saw this coming and grabbed Jason's leg before it made contact.

"What's the matter Jason? You forget who taught you how to fight?" Dick asked.

Without letting Jason retort, Dick threw his opponent's leg high over his head, causing Jason to flip over. As Jason did a flip, he felt immense pain as Dick connected a powerful kick with the center of Jason's spine. The force of the kick sent Jason flying back of couple of feet, and landing harshly on the ground.

Jason groaned as he got up, trying to regain his footing. But before he was able to even get to his knees, he was met with Dick's boot to the face causing Jason to hit the ground again hard. Dick picked Jason back up collar and delivered a strong right hook to the face. While the helmet provided some protection, Jason's head was still left ringing.

"What's the matter Jason," Dick said as he delivered another powerful punch, "nothing clever to say? It's not as fun when you're the one being hit yes."

Not wanting to let Jason get a response in, Dick delivered a barrage of powerful punches to Jason's cranium. The helmet that he was wearing started cracking with each blow until finally it burst open, revealing a portion of Jason's face. Dick halted his barrage to give Jason one last look.

"I can't let you continue this crusade Jason," Dick said as he cocked his fist back. "You brought this on yourself."

Jason's head bobbed up and down groggily. "Just do it then," he muttered weakly.

Dick was about to launch his face down for the last punch, when he found that something was holding him back. Maybe it was the Bat's training or maybe the fact that he still thought there was hope for Jason, but something was holding him back from delivering the final blow. However, this hesitation was all that Jason needed.

Subtly reaching into his boot, he pulled out the his combat blade. With lighting fast energy, slashed his blade across the distracted Dick's stomach, causing Dick to release his grip on Jason and grip his fresh wound and stop the bleeding. Jason took this further distraction to launch a kick in the center of Dick's chest.

Dick slumped to the ground and crumpled into a ball. Seeing his opponent in agony, Jason let out a menacing laugh. He stepped over Dick and knelt down so that he was on top of him.

"So you still have a soft for me, I'm touched," Jason said as he leaned in closer to Dick, placing the knife on his neck. "Let me show you that I do not share that same sympathy."

As he pressed the blade onto Dick's neck, causing slight bleeding, Dick heard a whirling sound. Suddenly a blade smashed into Jason's helmet, causing him to cry out in agony and leap off of Dick. As Dick tried to lift himself up, he noticed a hand being stretched down to help him. When he looked up, he saw a familiar figure.

"Artemis?" he asked in shock.

"You whine about me following you later," she said as she helped Dick up from his spot. "Right now we need to put finish this."

The two looked over to Jason, who was struggling to pull the knife out of the helmet. Finally giving up, he pulled out the straps and took of the helmet, revealing that the knife knicked him in the forehead and that he was beginning to bleed. The rest of his face was beginning to show signs of bruising and his eyes still had that unnerving red glow to them.

"So you guys want to go two-player is it?" Jason asked as he pointed the knife at both of them. "Fine, let's see how you two do with the final boss!"

 **Gotham Sewers**

Ubu watched as the last of the his ninja warriors cleared the area and stared at the final canisters of the chemicals, the explosives laying on top with a timer. He lifted up the detonator and placed his hand over the largest button on the remote.

"For the Mistress," he said as he turned around and pressed the button, disappearing into the shadows.

The timer began to light and make whirring noises. After it finished its start up, all was left were three numbers:

2:00…1:59….1:58…1:57….

 **I really don't have much to say on this, I didn't want to split this into two, but I felt as if it needed to be. I'll try to find more time to continue with this story, and it'll probably get easier after I finish this next film on this weekend. AS ALWAYS FOLLOW/FAV/COMMENT and thank you guys for the support.**


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **Gotham Construction Site**

Neither Artemis, Dick, or Jason moved a muscle. Dick felt that it was like one of those old western's that he and Jason used to watch years ago at Wayne Manor.

"Jason, please don't do this," Artemis pleaded. "You're family, we don't have to do this."

"That is so sweet Artemis, after all I've done to you losers, you still think you can save me," Jason said as he threw his head back and laughed. As he pointed his knife towards her, he said, "As sweet is that is, it'll take more than words to stop me."

Artemis lowered her head at the response, as if trying to find a way to respond to him, but Dick continued to stare at Jason. It was then that he truly noticed the dark coloration of his eyes. Jason's eyes actually looked as if they were glowing, almost radiating a red energy. Dick looked over to Artemis, who raised her head up with a stern look on her face.

"Alright then, if words won't do it," she said, "then I guess my boot will."

Both sides charged at each other with intense ferocity. Dick went low, trying to sweep under Jason's legs, while Artemis went high, launching a roundhouse kick to Jason's head. Jason simply somersaulted backwards to avoid the two. As he moved away from their attacks, he regained his footing and rocketed towards them, centering his attack on Dick.

As he tried to slash his blade across Dick's neck, he raised his foot to try and connect with Artemis' chest. Both heroes leaned back, narrowly missing both the knife and Jason's boot. Artemis quickly reached up and grabbed Jason's leg, creating a tight lock in which Jason was unable to free himself. Dick tried to exploit this lapse, but each time he neared Jason, the vigilante who nearly slash him with the knife, causing Dick to jump back.

Jason used this to his advantage as he rocketed his other leg and connected it across Artemis' face, causing her to release his leg and fall to the ground hard. Jason then switched his attack back to Dick and launched a fury of fisted attacks. Dick moved with dodge and block the attacks, having to catch the blade before it was injected into his neck. Both young men strained over the direction of where the knife would end up.

"Why….won't….you…die?!" Jason seethed as continued to push the voice down on the knife.

It seemed almost impossible, but as Jason's eyes began to glow brighter, his strength increased. Dick slowly felt himself being forced down onto his knees and the knife nearly reaching his skin. Noticing that Artemis was beginning to get up, Dick used his reflexes to shift his wrists and pull the knife off his neck and place Jason next to him.

"Artemis!" Dick called, praying that she would see the opening.

Thankfully she did and delivered sharp kick into Jason's back, causing him to release his grip on his on the knife. The knife hit the ground and Dick tackled Jason. As Dick landed on top of Jason and pinned him to the ground, he delivered blow after blow towards Jason's face until he was sure that Jason groggy. Dick reached out for the knife on the ground and gripped it tightly.

"What do you think you're doing?" Artemis asked as she stepped closer to Dick.

"What does it look like he's doing?" Jason said as he was beginning to come out of his haze. "He's finally manning up finishing it. Come on Dick, you know I won't stop until one of us is dead. So do it!"

Dick stared at the knife in his hand. He looked back at Artemis, who eyes were silently pleading him to not do this. He stared at Jason who's expression was the complete opposite, reading as if he wanted the blade pierced on his body. The rage that Dick felt was gone, all he felt was sad. He gripped the knife and chucked it away. He stood up and turned back towards Artemis, who breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's get Tim and get out of here," Dick said as he began to walk towards his friend, with Artemis nodding with a pleased smile.

As he walked away with this newfound sense of calm, he didn't notice Jason slowly stand up. Jason stared at Nightwing, unsure of why he would just let him live. As he continued to think more about this, his heart began pounding and a potent beating in his head caused his to scream like an animal, causing both Dick and Artemis to turn around.

"YOU WILL NOT IGNORE ME!" Jason shrieked as he sprinted towards Dick, his eyes discharging a red energy. "I WILL KILL YOU!"

But before he could reach Dick, Artemis jumped in front of him, causing Jason to stop in his tracks. This momentary hesitation allowed a small window that permited Artemis to land both an uppercut and a roundhouse kick to Jason's jaw and cheek respectively. The fire extinguished in Jason's eyes, returning back to their dim red color, as he crumpled to the ground uncouncious.

 **Gotham Sewers**

A fat rat scurried through the tunnel, looking for its next meal, hoping for more than just the measly crumbs. As it turned down a tunnel that it had been before, it noticed that there was something different in the center. There were three large metal objects sitting in a triangle patter. Curious if this would lead to food, the rat jumped onto the object and climbed to the top.

It let out a squeak of disappointment when it saw that there was no food, but noticed that there was small box on one of the further containers. The rat scurried over to the box and climbed on top of it, landing on a small screen with numbers.

0:03…0:02…0:01…

 **Daggett Construction Site**

Artemis and Dick were untying Time when they heard a loud explosion, followed by a shockwave that caused the remaining glass in the abandoned buildings to shatter. The trio looked at each other in confusion.

"I don't remember Gotham having earthquakes," Tim said as he stood up from his chair, clutching his arm tenderly. Artemis reached up to her ear and pressed on her communicator.

"Barbra, you got any info on what happened?" she asked, constantly keeping her head on a swivel.

"We've got confirmation of a chemical weapon being discharged near you're area," Barbra said. "It's nearing you're location, sending a zeta tube now."

Suddenly a large portal opened up near the trio. Dick and Tim looked at Artemis, hoping that she would fill them on what to do next.

"The Shadow's are making their play," Artemis said. "We need to clear this area now."

Tim made a move towards the tube, but stopped. He turned to where Jason was still crumpled on the floor. He nodded towards Jason and asked, "what about him? Are we just going to leave him here?"

Dick looked towards Jason. After all the pain, and torture that he had caused his friends, Dick didn't think Jason deserved to die, but he strongly felt that he didn't deserved to be saved. But as he watched Jason's unmoving body, he was reminded once again of the young child who needed help that young boy who was excited about learning from the previous Robin and becoming a superhero.

 **Watchtower**

As Jason regained consciousness, his head felt like the vibrations of bells in church cathedral. He tried to stand up, but felt his arms restrained. Looking down, he saw that he was cuffed to a chair. He tried unsuccessfully to pull on the restraints and free himself, but he was stuck. He looked in front of him to see M'gann, a stern look on her face.

"Welcome Jason, it's good to see you awake," she said, her voice unusually cold. "You can do this the easy way and tell us what the Shadow's next move is. Or we can do this the other easy way and I can take what I want."

Jason's struggling ceased and he looked at M'gann with an unimpressed expression. He leaned in close, a cocky smirk curling on his lips, and said, "Do you worst."

 **So I am the worst at describing action, so I apologize if this chapter isn't my best. But I'm glad that I finished the second part of this and glad that I'm getting closer to the end. The next update will be a bit as I am busy with working on this next film which we are doing soon. However I will give you this tease: Will we finally learn why Jason is acting so strange and will the Team be able to learn what the Shadows plan to do now that their chemical weapon is unleashed?**


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"I heard that you started using your powers to make people catatonic," Jason said to M'gann as he strained against his restraints. "Gotta admit out of all the people I thought who would lose, thought it would be Connor."

M'gann levitated herself off the ground in front of Jason, her eyes closed in concentration. Jason eyed her with a dark glint in his eye. "I will say that you truly took initiative and I'm proud of you," Jason continued. "There is only one way to deal with a problem, and that is to kill it."

"That was not what we believe Jason," M'gann said with her eyes close, her hair starting begin to float slightly. "You used to follow that same rule."

"That old me died a long time ago," Jason scoffed. "You buried him deep down in the dirt."

M'gann's eyes opened up, revealing them to be covered in a green light, causing Jason's mind to wander to Kori and wondering where she was at the moment. That moment was immediately rocketed away as his skull felt as if he was collapsing in on itself.

The walls of the room faded away, leaving only a black abyss surrounding the two. The bright green light in M'gann's eyes faded back into their normal color. She extended her legs so that she was now standing on the ground. She strolled over to Jason, who shaking rapidly in his seat.

"I know it's painful, but you left us no choice," M'gann said as neared him. "We have to know what the Shadow's are planning and since you won't tell us, plunging into your mind is the only way we can find out what we know."

Jason begins to thrash about in his chair, surprising M'gann, with his eyes clenched . She kneels down in front of him and reaches out towards in him concern. Putting both her hands on either side of his face, she did her best to steady his shuddering body.

"Jason…Jason!" M'gann shouted, trying to get his attention. "What's wrong."

Jason's eyes suddenly split open, revealing an immense red light that blinded M'gann. The martian shot up and began to backpedaled as she covered her eyes from the light. She noticed that there was no longer a black abyss around her, as flames somehow began to surfaces from the darkness. As she was surrounded by the flames, M'gann felt herself becoming weak as the temperature around her rose to an almost insane level.

Her breathe becoming shallow; she was unable to stop herself from collapsing on the ground. Jason, still with the blazing eyes, throws his head back and lets out a howling shriek that causes M'gann to cover her ears. He pulled his arms up, breaking the restraints on his chair, which allowed him to stand up.

He strolled over to M'gann, standing over her, as he gently massaged his wrists. His eyes had simmered there glow, but there was still a small gleam to them. He knelt down next to her, palming his fist.

"It seems my mind isn't as malleable as you thought it would be," Jason said in a calm tone while cracking his wrists. "I think I would like to see what it takes to crack your's."

Jason cocked his fist back as he tightened it into a ball. M'gann struggled to move away from him, but it proved to be futile as the flames had drained her strength. As Jason's fist flew down to M'gann, she closed her eyes.

M'gann was rocketed out of her trance and fell to the floor of the interrogation room. She opened her eyes and tried to pick herself up, her breathing was ragged and she was sweating. She noticed that Jason was again restrained in his chair and that his eyes still had that simmering glow.

"Sis!" M'gann heard a voice say causing her to turn around in time to be embraced in a tight hug from Garfield. She also noticed that Dick rushed in behind him, though he stayed a small distance back, focusing his energy on Jason.

"What happened to you?" Garfield asked concerned as he tried to help his adoptive sister up from the floor. "Do you need to go see a doctor?"

"You'll all have to see one when I'm done with you," Jason replied, causing both M'gann and Garfield to look at him. "If that's the best you're Sis has got kid, then that was pathetic."

"Don't you insult her," Garfield growling before quickly turning into a large green tiger. Tiger-Garfield padded close to Jason, who seemed unfazed by the transformation. This caused Tiger-Garfield to lunge towards Jason.

"Garfield!" M'gann shouted, causing Tiger-Garfield to stop before he reached Jason, and shift back into his normal human form. He looked at Jason with the most serious look that the young trickster could muster before turning back to assist M'gann out of the room.

Dick followed them out of the room, but as he neared the door, Jason called out, "I'm ready for the next batter whenever you are Dick."

Dick threw M'gann's arm around his shoulders in order to help ease her along faster. The trio made their way into control room, where they were greeted by Barbra, Virgil, Artemis and Tim. Artemis and Tim were watching the monitors, with Tim's right arm now wrapped around in a sling. Garfield and Dick aided in getting M'gann comfortable in one of the chairs.

"What the heck happened?" Barbra asked in shock as she came over to check on M'gann, whose breath was still ragged.

"That creep somehow broke Sis' concentration," Garfield said in a stern voice, before his expression turned curious. "How did he do that by the way?"

"Hard to be sure, Garfield, this has never happened," Dick said as he put a hand on Garfield's shoulder. "But I think that we need to move to another form of interrogation if we're going to get anything from him."

"I don't think it's that simple Dick," M'gann breathed as she tried to sit up on the chair. "When I was inside his head, I felt that there was something else. I can't place my foot on it, but I felt a dark presence taking over him."

"So what? You're saying that he's possessed?" Virgil asked. "Should we get a priest or something?"

"I can't be for sure, Virgil, but something isn't right here," M'gann said as her strength was beginning to come back. "Jason's mind appears shattered, and something else appears to have taken up residence."

At this time, both Artemis and Tim turned around from the monitor, concern written on both their faces.

"Guys, we have a big problem," Artemis says as she pulls up the screen so that everyone can hear. "Looks like we don't have to worry about what the Shadows want."

The team looked at the screen to see a special news bulletin from what looked like a Gotham news station. The anchor, a blond woman in her late thirties, sat at the desk with a distraught look on her face. The lower third on screen said 'Terror in Gotham: Fear Gas Overtakes City.'

"This is Vicki Vale reporting for Channel 7 in Gotham City with reports about a terror attack," the reporter said. "A poisonous gas was dispersed in the slums of downtown Gotham, affecting the population in the area, right before the bridges of Gotham were destroyed with massive explosions. The reports are still coming in at the moment, but multiple sources have described the scene as mass panic, and the death toll is unmeasured at the moment-"

Vicki stopped her report to grab the small earpiece in her ear. "Yes, I am being told that we have been given a feed from those claiming responsibility of the attack, we're going live now."

The scene switched to a dark cavern, which resembled a sewer. The screen was filled with numerous League of Shadows ninjas, along with the large Ubu. In the center was another woman in her thirties, this one with darker hair.

"Wow," Virgil said as he noticed the women. "Who on earth is that pretty lady?"

"That's Talia al Ghul," Dick said in surprise. "That's Ra's daughter."

"Oh," was all Virgil said.

"Good evening victims of the corrupt system of Gotham," Talia announced to the monitor. "We are the League of Shadows and we are here to free you from those who seek to exploit you. By now the members of my organization have taken strategic points throughout the city and even overrun your police. We have isolated the city from the rest of the world, and discourage any outside sources, superhuman or not, from trying to retake this city. If anyone were to try and overthrow us, I assure you that there is more gas set around the city, and I am unafraid of using it. This is you're only warning."

The monitor then went dark. The Team was left in a sullen silence as they were unsure of what was happening.

"So what's the plan guys?" Garfield said. "W-we can't let her take the city hostage."

"We won't take Garfield, I promise," Artemis said as she knelt down in front of him. "We have to tread lightly at this moment though. Dick you know most about Talia, what's her play?"

There was no response and Artemis turned around to see that Dick was once again gone.

Kori, still restrained to the chair, was trying her best to ignore the irritating itch in her right palm, which had been bugging her for the past hour. She was going nowhere at the moment and the mind numbing boredom was killing her and she was so focused on the itch that she barely noticed the door opening. Looking up, she saw Dick standing in the doorway, slightly out of breath.

"I need your help," Dick said as he strolled closer to her. This caused Kori to lean back and smirk in her chair.

"So you probe my mind, leave me in this cell for days, tied to a chair mind you, and then come and ask me for a favor," she spit with venom. "What reason could you possibly have to make me want to help you?"

Dick now stood in front of her, with a compassionate look that shocked Kori. "Because we both want to save Jason," he said. "And I think I know of a way to do it."

 **The last part of this chapter is perhaps not my best, but I'm glad I'm moving more towards the third act of this story. Hope you guys like it, and please remember to fave/follow/comment.**


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"You want to use the Tamaranean?" Barbra asked Dick as he walked down the corridor, keys in his hands. "I'm all for helping Jason, but this seems a little extreme."

"It does, and you're very just in your skepticism," Dick said as the two made it toward the door, with Artemis already standing there waiting. "But we're short on time and we need to move fast in order to stop Talia."

As Dick opened the door and walked inside the cell, Barbra stared at Artemis, trying the gage her reaction. The other heroine just closed her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm as confused with this as you are Barb," Artemis said. "But Dick seems to be on to something. And as much as I hate to say it, when Dick is on to something, he usually has a plan."

Dick made his way over to Kori, who seemed almost as confused as Barbra over this whole matter. As Dick unhooked her restraints, she made no rapid movement to sock the superhero's lights out or blast her way out of her prison. She only moved to grip her wrists, which had been uncomfortable while restrained. As they walked out of the cell, they

"But M'gann already tried to delve into Jason's mind, and look how she ended up," Barbra said. "Even if we could go back inside, which we can't, what's the difference now."

"This time we'll be using a different method," a voice called from behind them. Turning around the group was met by a young woman dressed like se should be working on a Las Vegas strip show.

"Zatanna, why am I not surprised," Artemis said as she looked at Dick, who just playfully shrugged his shoulders. Zatanna smiled as she strolled up to Artemis and gave her a big hug, which was eagerly returned.

"Ugh, not that I'm unhappy to see you Zatanna, but why did Dick call you in?" Barabra asked.

"I can answer that," Dick said. "I witnessed M'gann struggling to gain control of Jason's mind. If a telekinetic doesn't have the power, then maybe a magician can help."

"So I was asked to perform the spell," Zatanna said. "If it can help bring Jason back, and help us find a weakness with the Shadows I say it's worth a go."

Dick and Artemis nodded in approval, and turned to look at Barbra. Seeing that everyone had their eyes on her, Barbra rubbed her face with her hand and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, let's do it."

Zatanna sat indian-style on the ground between Jason and Dick and Kori, who also sat there on the floor. There was a loud muffling from Jason as his mouth had been covered with duck tape. He thrashed about in his chair wildly, threatening to tip it over. Kori watched her lover struggle with a horrified expression.

"Are you sure that this will cure him?" She asked Dick.

Dick stared at her, unsure of what to say. "I don't know", he said as Zatanna began her incantation, "but I promise, if there is a way, we'll find it."

"Dlem Dnim," Zatanna called out as her eyes glowed a bright yellow light. Suddenly the room faded into darkness, leaving only Dick and Kori. The darkness was shortlived as the walls grew lit with violent lights and blazing heat. The environment morphed into a vast and horrific cave, with large stalagmite and stalactite structures that almost took shapes of demonic and Kori found themselves on a stone bridge, which lead to a large spire tower.

"What is this place?" Kori asked. "It feels as if this realm emanates nothing but darkness and evil."

"I-I don't know," Dick said trying to get his bearings. "Th-this is new to me. But you're right it does feel like evil radiates from this place."

"That is right Boy Blunder," a voice called out from behind the duo. Turning around they saw the Joker, dressed in a ratty purple suit, which covered with rips and tears. His face paint was running, with spots of his natural skin color showing. His eyes looked more deranged than ever.

"Joker, what are you doing here?" Dick asked as he readied himself for a fighting stance.

"That poor boy wanted nothing more to than to get rid of me, but I seem to be like a cockroach," Joker said as he began to laugh. "We all seem to be like cockroaches."

Suddenly, all around Dick and Kori, numerous clones of the Joker appeared through the ground, each more gruesome than the rest. They charged at the duo and attacked them violently.

Dick defended himself from the blows, while Kori used her energy blast to tear through the clowns. However, they were quickly over run by the clowns, who quickly dog piled them.

In the prison cell, Zatanna was struggling to maintain her focus. The pressure of keeping the spell was proving to be more difficult. Sweat was beginning to drip down her face as her breath began to become ragged.

Back in the clown dog pile, Dick was struggling to avoid the constant barrage of blows as he was held down on the ground. As he was only able to hear that sick, sinister laughing, Dick was able to make another voice out.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," A young feminine voice called out.

The weight was lifted off of Dick, who was now given his vision back. He stood up to see Kori, who was beginning to stand up again. The two looked around to see that the bridge was clown-free. But there was another presence there, a young raven-haired girl dressed in a white cloak. She looked no more than thirteen, and eyed the duo with a disinterested look in her eye.

"Young child, what are doing here?" Kori asked as she and Dick regained their footing.

The girl turned away and put her hood on, and began walking away. Without turning her head she said with a cold tone, "It's you who shouldn't be here. This place is not for mortals like you."

"Wait," Dick called to the girl. "We're looking for a friend of ours, he-"

"Is in the tower," the girl finished. "You best hurry if you want to save him, his mind won't much more."

And with that, the girl disappeared. Dick and Kori looked at each other and back towards the tower. Without further ado, they rushed towards the tower.

As the reached inside the entrance, they were met by a large room, which looked as if it took most of the tower's space. There was a glowing light that flashed through the room and seemed to emanate from the center of the room. Looking for the source, the saw that it was a large, ruby-looking gem, that was pulsating a red beam towards a spot below it. Underneath the gem's beam, was a young man strapped to the floor, screaming in agony as he was hit with the beam.

"Jason!" Kori called out as she recognized the scream. She flew next to him and tried to free his restraints, to no success. As Jason continued to howl, the beam continued hitting him, peeling his skin away as the seconds past. Kori looked to Dick, who was examining the gem, and said, "We have to do something. He can't take much more of this."

Dick looked around the room and saw that there were large stalagmites huddled together. "Hit those stalagmites with one of your energy blasts and hurl it towards the gem," He told Kori. "If we damage the gem, it might release him."

Kori followed the order without a second thought. She flew towards the stalagmites and hit the largest one with her energy blasts. Gripping on tight to the rock, she moved it towards the gem. When she was close enough she hurled it at the gem, which shattered with a large concussive blast. The blast was followed by a massive display of light which blinded both Kori and Dick.

As the light died down, the sound of restraints being clapped free. Dick looked back to where Jason was and saw that he was now standing in front of both him and Kori. However, the strength that Dick had seen in recent days was gone, and an exhausted look was replaced on Jason. The most noticeable change to Jason was his eyes as the dark, red gleam was gone. They had been returned to their natural blue coloring.

Jason's legs gave out on him and fell forward. Thankfully, Kori was there to catch him as before he hit the ground. "Jason," she whispered to him gently, though with restraint, "is it you?"

"I'm sorry," Jason heaved as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up to see Dick standing over him. "Dick, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Dick wanted to feel anger, to grab onto Jason's throat and squeeze the life out of him for all the pain that he had caused. But as he stood there, the hatred turned away and Dick wanted nothing more than to forgive his former friend. He softly put a hand on Jason's shoulder, giving the young man a surprise.

"It's okay Jason," he said, trying to reassure him. "You're safe now."

 **So that is chapter 19. Jason has now returned to normal (or has he?). I'm going to bring back Talia al Ghul and the Shadows and really focus on them in the next chapter cause I feel that I've never really given them enough depth. As always Fav/Comment/Follow the story, you guys have no idea how much motiviation it is to continue this story. Thank you guys!**


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